Dark Horizons
by David Knight
Summary: Enter into a reality where the beginning of the story took a very darker turn then it should have. (Chapter 2 Added)
1. Prologue: Prelude to Darkness

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I do not on the Power Rangers, they belong to Disney (aka the Mouse and co.) Note to everyone who reads this, this is an Alternate Universe story as you will clearly see first hand. Things will get intense as that is my plan with this story. I guess I owe the inspiration for this story to the fics that I have read in which things just get really bad, really fast. If you want to talk to me, email me at ericpaladin@hotmail.com . Now without any further ado..._

**Prelude to Darkness  
By: David Knight**

The year is 1993.

In many realities on this year, Rita Repulsa is awakened from her space dumpster and begins her attack upon the earth, forcing Zordon of Eltar to select the first five in a long line of Rangers that would follow through out time.

This is a reality in which that does _not_ happen.

* * *

The two astronauts looked up and saw a strange object imbedded in the moon's surface. Something that they had never seen on the moon nor had any other astronauts before them. They wanted to open it up and see what was there, possibly making them famous.

Those were the last thoughts they had before they were disintegrated by a blast of pure energy. 

"Gutter trash," a cold voice spoke in the nothingness of space. A figure walked over the ashes of the two humans before walking toward the prison. He put his hand over the gem and it glowed before the seal vanished. He moved a way and watched several creatures come out of the prison.

"Alright free at last! Yahoo! Now we can do some conquest!" were the joyous cries.

"Sadly, you have no future." the being spoke emotionlessly.

Two of the beings, a short blue monster and a tall blue hairy one, turned around just in time to see a hand leveled at them which let off a blast of energy which vaporized them. Another one, a golden monkey turned with an angry scowl. "Infidel! How dare you do this to the court of Rita Repulsa! Now pay for your mistakes at the hands of Goldar the Unstoppable!"

"Stop." the being spoke and suddenly Goldar the 'Unstoppable' found himself very stopped.

A short white skinned monster looking like a gnome just stood there froze, waiting to see what was going to happen when the groans of a cranky old witch came to be heard. "Oh where are you people! I need help to wake up after ten thousand years! I am going to conquer a planet and I don't care..." as all she got to say when she came out before she felt someone's hand wrapped around her throat.

"Obviously you didn't get the memo." the cold voice spoke.

The witch's eyes went wide when she heard the voice. "... it... it can't be..." she turned to look at the being in front of her. Long green hair down his back, dressed in black and dark blue clothing, but most of all, two crimson eyes staring her down. "Ah...Ahriman..."

"Yes Rita Replusa, I have been freed... and many have felt my wrath from being betrayed." Ahriman said coldly, "And you were one of those that aided Dark Specter in regaining his place as Grand Monarch. You couldn't take it that someone as young as I was able to defeat someone as old as him. You feared me and my power. Well now no one need fear Dark Specter... for I have eliminated him and taken his power. You on the other hand have only so little that I wish."

"What... do you want oh great..." Rita felt the grip tighten as Ahriman narrowed his eyes.

"Be silent traitor," Ahriman hissed as he glared at her, "What I want I take... and I take your power to add to my own." Suddenly a dark glowing aura surrounded the two figures, Rita screamed out in pain as she felt her power be stripped from her soul, being added to Ahriman's power. She knew it would be soon time for her to die. Her life would end once her magic was extinguished.

So it was a great surprise to her to find that she had at least a quarter of her once great powers left when Ahriman let her go. "What... what... is going to happen... to me now..."

That's when she saw the smile form on Ahriman's face, and then Rita became very afraid, for when Ahriman smiled, it meant no good at all. "Prepare to receive a fate worse then death... death by personality."

"What... what do you..." Rita asked but when she saw him look towards Goldar and waved his hand toward him, she knew just what he had planned. "Oh no... Darkness no! I beg you! PLEASE!!!"

"I show nothing to beggars." Ahriman said as he magically lifted Rita up into the air along with Goldar. Now both of them started to glow in a matching color. A dark pink. "But let it never be said that I can't make a punishment be the worst it can be... _Exados Libiros Fusienon!"_

"AHHHHHH!!!!" Rita screamed as her body was sent flying for a collision course with Goldar's... just as his was sent on one for hers. When they touched, an explosion of light occurred, one that was blinding.

It wasn't long until the light however died and a new figure landed on the ground very gracefully. Ahriman and Finster looked at the figure that had once been two beings. It was wearing Goldar's armor but it was now dark pink in color and designed for a woman, a very shapely woman that was. From the back of the helmet there was silver white hair streamed down from it and in her hands was a sword, using Goldar's colors but the blade was curved made to look like a crescent moon. Most noticeable of all was the fact that the female wearing the armor was not human, but of the flying monkey species that Goldar had been, only she was white furred, that included the tail coming out of the back of her armor and the two wings from the back. She then bowed down before Ahriman, "Kymera, Magical Swordswoman of Grakis at your service Lord Ahriman."

Ahriman walked over to Finster who had a look of shock on his face, "My... my lord... you... the art of fusion... you can to do it..."

"To anyone? No. I have only mastered the technique with those whose hearts are open to the Darkness." Ahriman said to him. "You Finster among all of this court, save from one other, are the only ones worthy of being spared from my wrath." 

"Thank you Lord Ahriman."

Ahriman turned around and started to utter a simple chant. Within seconds a large boulder appeared before him. Placing his hand on the stone, it broke open in half and there had been someone inside that bolder. A woman that looked Japanese but was wearing somewhat skimpy golden armor, designed to look like a scorpion. When the woman opened her eyes and saw Ahriman, she went down on her knees and lowered her head, "L... Lord Ahriman... I..."

"Get up." He spoke and she obeyed. "If I wanted you dead Scorpina, I would have obliterated the boulder you were in instead of splitting it into two. You and Finster are among the only four to escape my judgment."

Scorpina bowed before the dark being, "My life is yours to command as my sword is now to serve you Lord Ahriman."

Ahriman said nothing as he heard Finster and Kymera come up behind him. He had gotten what he had come for. Now it was time to begin what he planned to do fifty millennia ago, "It's time to go."

"To where my Lord?" Kymera asked.

"To the Dark Fortress." Ahriman answered before they were all enveloped in a flash of dark light and vanished from the surface of the moon.

* * *

Astronema, Princess of Darkness was in her chambers, with her protector and surrogate father Ecliptor watching the door. The princess was in contemplation of what had happened over the last week. How the structure of evil had changed so drastically. She was on Onyx, meeting Dark Specter at his request... when he came.

__Ahriman...__ she shivered as she thought about the man that had changed everything, not just her life, but the entire way of evil in the Universe. Not even Dark Specter made her this scared. Dark Specter was fearsome because of his appearance, of how he looked like the dark warlock Maligore and was much more powerful than him.

Ahriman might have had the appearance of a human being, but he was definitely no such thing. She and Ecliptor saw with their very own eyes the Grand Monarch of the UAE be picked apart by Ahriman. He was absolutely merciless, showing no quarter to Dark Specter and tore him to pieces. He took the Monarch's power to add to his own and then made the body disappear. What he did with it, neither she nor Ecliptor knew. 

Astronema didn't want to know. She was beginning to wish she never even met this man who scared her so much. Until that moment she had never even heard of Ahriman, let alone know that he had even existed. Yet that was Dark Specter's and his followers plan, to make sure that all future generations of evil would never even hear of the name of Ahriman. If no one knew that he even existed, no one would ever think of trying to free him from his prison.

In the end, that did nothing but delay the inevitable. Ahriman had escaped without aid from his dimensional hell that he been imprisoned for so long. Dark Specter had been first to feel his wrath but he was not the last. Every single Empire in the UAE had been hit. 

Only she, a mere fourteen-year-old mortal girl who had not even been _born_ so long ago, and Ecliptor were spared from Ahriman's unholy judgment. For only four years had she been trained to be Dark Specter's heir, and now he was dead and her loyalties had now shifted to Ahriman. It was either that or death.

__I have to wonder if anyone will survive unchanged as Ecliptor and I have... but I doubt it.__ Astronema sighed. To be honest, she did not know who she thought was the luckier one. Those that died at Ahriman's hand... or those that did survive only to become something else.

Suddenly the door opened, "My Princess," Ecliptor spoke as he walked in.

"What is it Ecliptor?"

"Lord Ahriman has returned. He calling a gathering now." 

Astronema nodded and went to her closet, going to change out of her current clothes into something else. She wanted to look as dark as she could possibly be. However at her age, that was somewhat hard to do. She often wished she would grow up faster, become the powerful woman that she was destined to be and fight in real battles. To give meaning to the sheltered life she had been living for some time now. Ecliptor trained her well, but she only remained in the Dark Fortress or on Onyx. But now with the changes that had been happening, she wanted to grow up more than ever. She wanted to be strong. She wanted to be strong to defend herself against any enemy. But most of all, she wanted to be strong enough to protect her right to live. 

She finally settled on an all black outfit, her pendant around her neck, and her Satti-rang on her belt, her Satti-rang was her birthday present from Ecliptor last year. She looked at herself in the mirror and thought she looked as dark as she could be. She needed to be when she went into the main hall and saw _them_. 

For her to look darker, all she needed was a different set of clothes. Though for some people, the changes they went through had done much more than cosmetic. 

Taking a breath to gather her confidence, she turned to Ecliptor and said, "Let's go." Her protector nodded and they both walked together to the main hall where Ahriman had ordered all of his court to be when he arrived. 

When they arrived, they saw that they had already arrived and they were all beings that possessed great power. Beings that Astronema herself once knew. She may not have liked them, but she had never thought she would have seen this.

She looked to her left and saw the Neo Machina Imperium, formed out of the ashes of the Machine Empire. A new name was needed, especially considering what the new leaders were like. Emperor Cladius, he who had once been King Mondo and his first son Prince Gasket. Cladius looked just as large as King Mondo himself had when he was still active. There were some similarities to be sure. Mondo's staff in his left hand, the entire body was made to look just as Mondo had looked, all save for the head and the color of the body. Instead of bright blue being the body's main color, it was emerald green, like Gasket's coloring had been. His sleeves were striped black and green; Gasket's old sword was attached to his right side, ready to be used at any moment. His face was battled hardened, looking younger than Mondo's had been and still this was not the face of a teenager, but it was the face of a man. Atop his head was the golden crown that Mondo himself once had.

Right next to him was his wife Empress Antoinette, who had once been Queen Machina and Gasket's own wife Archerina. The female machine was equally large as her husband and in some ways resembled the late Machina. Her upper torso had the same golden body part that the original Machina had, only made Mondo-size and there were other differences. Such as for the black colored covering Machina wore for her chest was no longer there. Instead there was now a heart shaped hole in the upper body of this machine, shaped like a heart, whose top started at the top of her very large bosom. The color of this covering was white, making it even more striking and showing the Archerina influence of the fusion. She wore a long sparkly pink skirt, which went from the waist all the way down to the ground and had a matching cape attached to her back. Strapped to her back was Archerina's bow, which could appear in her hands at any given time. Finally there was her head. It was not as round as Mondo's nor was it as narrow as Machina's had been; It was something of a mixture. There was a blue-black metal overlay before seeing a purely silver metal face that reflected feminine features. Her eyes were yellow and over her right eye she wore the same eyepiece that Machina had worn.

The other main party was an even greater overhaul but united so many various clans of evil together. The houses of Xett and Repulsa and the Pirate Clans of Diva; Three powerful houses now merged into one group: the Pirates Clans of Darkness. All because of the two beings standing near the right side of the room. The one on the left was older than the other. She was quite tall with a large draped robe that covered most of her body, but what could be seen of it was that she had golden scales instead of skin. In her right hand she had a small golden scepter, with a snakehead at the top. She wore a pair of small spectacles under her eyes, but her head was the strangest thing about her. Two green silted eyes kept looking at people, as if they were her prey. Instead of having real hair, she had many different snakes writhing about. Cobras, vipers, asps, there were just so many of them. 

That had once been Master Vile, father to Rita Replusa and the late Rito Revolto, and Momma D, mother of Divatox and also the late General Havoc. All there was now was Mistress Medusa.

The other creature there was her 'daughter'. She was leaning against the wall, clearly feeling very full of herself, with her arms crossed over her ample bosom. If she had any skin, men would have flocked to her. The first thing that anyone would see about this female being was that her entire body had no skin, only skinless muscle with clear colored fluid tubes going all around the body and arms. She was wearing a red and golden corset around her torso and a red skirt formed below the waistline. Her right hand had a golden gauntlet blaster while her left hand had a massive silver gauntlet, with claws that could slash through anything. She was also wearing long thigh high silver metal boots along with a red cape on her back. Looking at her face, one could see that it was metallic yet retained a feminine appearance. There was a silver grid that covered her mouth while a half-face plate covers her right eye. Long purple hair came from the back of her head but the top of it was exposed, showing her brain to the world. Lastly, resting against the wall was a silver staff with a large N on it.

The two beings that been used to create this creature had been Lord Zedd and Divatox. Two incredibly powerful beings and fused together to create this monstrosity before her: Nemesis.

Suddenly, a black flash of light appeared, which disappeared to reveal Ahriman, Scorpina, Finster, and someone that looked similar to Goldar of Rita Repulsa's service, but was female. Seeing no one else, Astronema knew who this creature had been. __Still, at least I am not alone among the unchanged now.__

Ecliptor however reflected on a different factor, __So this is the new UAE, this 'Shadow Consortium' that Ahriman has created. All of us in this room, the Quantrons, the weapons in the Dark Fortress, the forces that Ahriman has back on Onyx. That is it.__ Ahriman had been of the type, 'if it is useless, get rid of it.' Thus, many beings that belonged to the people Ahriman had eliminated were eliminated as well, simply because they did not have any use to him. Dark Specter had been cruel, but Ahriman was on a level that no one would ever want to believe. 

"So Ahriman, when does the fun begin?" Nemesis asked, her voice taking on a clear tone that she was eager for battle and to spill blood.

"When I say so." Ahriman told her simply, glaring at her and it made her back down. "Don't worry Nemesis. You will have your pound of flesh. The earth will be my first conquest here and from here will move onward through out the universe. The moon orbiting us will be the place of my new palace, this system my capital and from here I will launch all of my strikes against the universe." A smile crept onto his lips, "However, I have something I must take care of first." The smile vanishing, he turned toward the machine rulers, "Claudius and Antoinette. Prepare your forces for my signal. Your QuadraVipers had best not disappoint me."

"They will be ready for you when you need them Lord Ahriman," Claudius said proudly.

"We will not fail you. We are not foolish machines," Antoinette replied, her seemingly French accent showing.

Ahriman merely nodded as he looked toward Ecliptor and Astronema, "Prepare your own Quantrons for battle and ready your Velocifighters. They will be needed shortly."

"It will be as you ask my Lord," Astronema bowed.

Ahriman turned to Mistress Medusa, "Have you found him?"

The smile on the snake woman's face was very wide when she gave him the answer, "I have. He's right at the center of a ley line."

"He thought he could protect it by being right on it... how truly naïve he must be now," Ahriman chuckled, "I will return shortly."

"Might I know where you are going my Lord?" Kymera asked, "Do you have need of me?" 

"No Kymera. This is something I must do personally." Ahriman said before vanishing in a flash of darkness. With his departure, the other villains all left, save for Eclitpor, Astronema, Finster and Scorpina, who walked up to Astronema and held her hand out, "Scorpina, Former Master Warrior of Solaris."

"Astronema, Princess of Darkness," the young girl said with as much confidence as she could, "At least I still am." 

"For those of us that remain the same, it would be best to stick close to each other," Scorpina suggested.

"I would agree... this Ahriman... he's..."

"Unbelievable... little girl, you haven't seen anything yet." Scorpina sighed, while sending a small prayer of pity to the one person that Scorpina knew Ahriman was going after.

And was about to kill.

* * *

In a place that would be known to many as the Command Center, the great sage Zordon of Eltar had awoken once more, feeling a faint disturbance. "Alpha 5, what is going on in the world?"

"Nothing to be alarmed about Zordon," the robotic being that had been Zordon's only companion for so many millennia replied.

"I felt a tremor through the Morphing Grid, you must find out if Rita's dumpster has been opened at all or not." Zordon said.

"Have your powers grown so faint that you can't even feel something that simple old man," a voice spoke out to him.

From his time warp, Zordon's eyes widened in shock and disbelief. "N... no..."

"Ai-yai-yai! Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Intruder..." Alpha 5 screamed until he grabbed by his head and thrown clear across to the back of the command center, thanking the Matrix his head hadn't been ripped off, but as it was he was in no condition to do anything.

"I can't tell you how long I have been looking forward to this." The voice spoke with an eagerness and malevolence.

"How did you escape?" Zordon asked.

"Please. It was easy... if you actually thought about the problem. Stuck in a null void that's even worse than your condition. However in my case there was an access to the Spirit Lines, where spirits go between life and the place after death." The figure spoke with a bit of joy.

"... you didn't..." Zordon gasped in horror.

"Their souls were delicious," the being licked his lips, as if savoring his actions, "Of course I couldn't take them all at once or risk someone sensing it. I took them one at a time over a span of a century to conceal my actions from even the most talented of Adepts and even then I only took the souls that had the most power for me to consume and add to my own essence. Why else do you think I am so much more than I was?"

"The only thing you have become Zariel is a demon," Zordon spat.

"My name is not Zariel! It is Ahriman! The name that my mother gave me on her death bed!" the dark lord snapped, his own restraint wearing thin before speaking again, "Let me tell you an interesting little story I learned while I was there in that hole you and those betrayers of the UAE did to me. And FYI, the UAE is extinct."

"'FYI'?" Zordon blinked.

"For your information." Ahriman smiled, "The future is so interesting to learn about."

"The... the future?!" Zordon gasped.

"If you fools had even begun to consider that I might have been able to manipulate the fabric of time and space inside my prison to see the future since it is a time warp, you might have actually kept me out for another few millennia," Ahriman sneered, "You see Zordon, I found out what would have happened if I never was freed. On this very day, Rita Repulsa would have escaped, and you would have chosen five human teenagers to become your first Power Rangers. These Power Rangers would then face the Green Ranger, Rita's own Evil Ranger." He held up in his hands the Green Power Coin, which he threw out into the back of the room. "You can have that trash. I have no need for Rangers. Still though, for three years you held up against Rita and Zedd and Master Vile. The Green Ranger lost his powers but became the White Ranger, one of the strongest warriors of the light ever produced. But then you lost the powers and you had to get the Zeo Crystal. Then came the Machine Empire but your Zeo Rangers beat them. Next came Divatox and yet another Ranger upgrade. Turbo..." Ahriman paused for a moment to ask, "Can I ask why you would make a group of Rangers look like they were rejects from a NASCAR race?"

Zordon had no response to give to the man who shrugged and went on, "Still your Turbo spandexed warriors defeated the evil pirate queen. Finally came D-Day with Dark Specter's own forces, yet another Ranger upgrade, the power of Space. Your Rangers tried their best but failed against the overwhelming number's game. So much in fact, that you actually asked the Red Ranger to kill you, just so you could free everyone who was enspelled evil to be free and good and annihilate anything else that was evil." 

"It sound like a perfect vision to have of the future... but why are you telling me this?" Zordon asked just when Ahriman pulled out a dark ebony sword from the scabbard at his side.

"I just wanted to let you know about the Legacy that you _would_ have had," Ahriman said sweetly as he walked forward, "So that you would feel happy and maybe complete... so that you could embrace your death with some honor even though it will be meaningless. This time, you won't be spreading the peace wave around the galaxy. After all I can't have that wave of goodness destroying my Legacy now can I?"

"... Zariel... you wouldn't..." Zordon breathed.

"The one thing I hated just as much as you being a martyr was someone else killing you," Ahriman stated before looking Zordon dead in the eyes, "If anyone should set you free from your prison, it should be family... right... **_father!_**"

Without any hesitation, Ahriman slashed right through the glass tube, but instead of Zordon's energy being dispersed, Ahriman's sword glowed black and negated the effect. Instead of Zordon's essence being sent across the universe, he was brought back into reality, with his true body. 

The thoughts going through the great wizard's mind were absolute disbelief as he felt himself truly free from the time warp that he had been in for ten millennia. He took his first breath of air in just as long and stood up, only to look forward and see Ahriman in front of him... and stab him through his heart. 

The look on Zordon's face couldn't be any more pained, "My... son..." he rasped as Ahriman pulled him off of his sword and Zordon fell to the ground. 

Ahriman looked down at the dying man, his face looking absolutely emotionless, "I'll let your precious Command Center be among my forces' first targets in my opening attack on this planet. My legacy begins with Earth while yours dies along with you. Farewell and may you burn in hell for all of your sins, father." Without saying anything else, he disappeared in a flash of dark light.

As Zordon lay dying, he knew hell would quite literally be unleashed upon the earth, __I don't have much power left... I must...  do this... and hope that by the time we are done... there will even be anyone left to save..._ _His body flashed bright white for a moment and then it was gone.

"Zordon!" Alpha 5 screamed and then he too disappeared.

Along with the Dragon Coin that Ahriman had thrown away.

* * *

Ahriman teleported onto the bridge of the Dark Fortress and sat in the chair that had been made for him. From here he would communicate to all of his forces, as he would now give the order to begin his legacy. A legacy that would never be stopped, not even by his father.

__My Father's legacy to the Light brings nothing but death and suffering. I have already seen that.__ Ahriman thought as he looked out to the stars. He had not shared with his father everything that he knew of the future. To tell him that would give him heartache and he wanted his father to at least die happy. It was the most he could do for giving him the only real gift he had ever given him: life.

His father believed that with his death, evil would be eradicated. But he was wrong on two counts. The first count was the fact that Ahriman had seen from the future. Of how even after his death, evil still existed, in a pathetically ridiculous yearly cycle. A new evil force would appear to threaten the light and a new team of Rangers would be summoned to stop them. And yet all through out people were injured and killed. Every year it was the same cycle. Newer faces, same death and destruction.

__And that was a legacy he though he would be proud to leave behind? Did he go mad when he decided on that plan?__ Ahriman asked himself. Shaking his head, he supposed it didn't really matter. Zordon was dead and there was no way his father would be able to come back from the dead. The legacy he would have made had died with him.

A smile slowly formed on Ahriman's lips, "And now, it time for my legacy to begin." He pressed a single red button on his chair.

And that was when hell came to earth.

* * *

All over the world people were enjoying their normal daily lives; seemingly content and blissfully ignorant abut their position in the universe. They believed themselves to be alone and that there was no other life.

They were proven wrong on this day.

Strange gray and golden colored jets of different make and style appeared over the capitals of every nation on the planet. The people below had no idea what to make of it.

That was when the ships started firing scarlet colored energy blasts down at them and their cities. Right after the first volley, people started running like chickens with their heads cut off, intent on trying to stay alive but it was a very hard thing to do. Buildings were exploding, parts of them falling down the street, adding more carnage and chaos to the situation. The body count started to pick up rapidly as bodies or just parts of bodies started to fill up the streets.

London, Paris, Berlin, Washington DC, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo. All capitals of the world lay in ruins by the time the sun had set on this day in California, which was where the first sightings of the alien ships was seen blasting a seemingly barren part of the desert area near a small town called Angel Grove. If there had been anything there before, there was nothing now. 

As for the town that had been near that site... the jets passed it by on their way out and blasted it, destroying much of the city, killing many people and injuring others.

The people of earth would realize that over thirty million lives had been wiped out, and millions more had been injured in one way or another on that day. 

But as bad as that day had been, was it was just the beginning.

The beginning of the Legacy of Ahriman.

**To Be Continued...**

_Author's Notes: I'll bet no one saw this twist coming at all. I'd love to hear what you all thought of it. This is only the prologue, as the real story will pick up three years later and we'll see some familiar faces, though changed by this event. The next chapter is entitled A Light in the Darkness. Until next time. _


	2. Chapter 1: The Shadowed Future

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I do not own the Power Rangers, they belong to Disney (aka the Mouse and co.) What I do own are Ahriman, Kymera, Nemesis, Mistress Medusa, Cladius,_ _Antoinette, and the Evi-sevs. If you want to talk to me, email me at ericpaladin@hotmail.com . _

**The Shadowed Future  
By David Knight**

Three years have passed.

It has been three years since the death of Zordon of Eltar. Three years since Ahriman killed his own father after setting him free from his prison.

Three years since Ahriman attacked the earth and conquered it along with the entire solar system. He built his seat of power, the Azure Castle, on the moon. From there he ruled the Shadow Consortium, ordering them to follow his commands throughout the universe. To keep control of their territories, to bring Ahriman's message across the universe... and to fight against those that have decided to declare war against them.

The Galactic Council of Worlds.

* * *

Supreme Councilor Demitria looked out from her window in her home on Eltar. For nearly three years she had been the leader of the Council, though it had not been her wish. Rather, it was something she had been forced into, but there was no other choice. She was the most experienced and wisest Councilor alive now. The rest were dead.

__Zordon... what must you think of the universe now, wherever you are?_ _Demitria sighed. She remembered the day three years ago when Zordon died. She had felt it. So had every decent Adept throughout the universe.

When the current Council at the time had heard of it, there was shock and disbelief but also a wish to take action. An action that Demitria did not like when she learned of it. It had been kept from her along with several others, to keep the voting on the matter in favor of the ones who wished for this to happen.

The plan that the Council wanted to execute was to send five Ranger Teams to the Earth with a contingent of military forces; to go to Earth and attack, guns blazing, against the evil that had to be there; the evil that had killed Zordon. It was to be a holy _jihad_ in retribution for Zordon's death. That was the official line.

Unofficially, it was a way for several members of the Council to legally justify the extermination of every living being on the planet. With Zordon dead, there was no reason to consider its people worth saving. To many worlds, humans from Earth were simply backwater savages not even worth the time they would need to be educated and taught better about the universe. This way, they could eliminate all obstacles and quickly claim the uninhabited world as their own. 

But what was the reason for such a thing?  It was to get at the vast magical energy that was within the planet itself. There was so much in the Earth that it would empower the Council for eons. People would do anything for it.

Demitria closed her eyes as she remembered that day two years and six months ago when she barged into the Council with her friend Trey of Triforia, hoping to stop this insanity... only to be the guest at a massacre.

* * *

_"What is the meaning of this!" Demitria exclaimed as she came into the main council room, her shout drawing much attention. Right behind her was Trey._

_"Demitria, we were just waiting for you to..." the __Supreme Councilor Mertak started to say before Demitria cut him off._

_"You have given orders to the military forces we sent to wipe out the human race! For what purpose?" Demitria demanded._

_"Why shouldn't they be wiped out?" Councilor Nemia sneered, standing haughtily at her place on the main council. "All they do is ruin their own species. They have no idea of what power that world holds. Power that could be used for the betterment of the universe."_

_"So genocide is now part of the way of the Light?" Trey snapped._

_"You don't know your place in the grand scheme of things, young Prince." Councilor Darkonda, a member of the Mephistian race, spoke. Both Trey and Demitria knew that there was something wrong with him, something dark, but they could never prove it. _

_"For that matter we have no idea if there are any living creatures left. Only the pockets of evil and the cancerous evil that murdered the great Zordon," the supreme councilor said, his tone unidentifiable as sadness or joy. The __High Councilor had never gotten along with Zordon, but Demitria had no idea how he would take his death. "The council has already voted. Regardless of whatever vote you might have made, this decision is final. Once our five Ranger teams eliminate this evil, the military will wipe out all the evil from the planet and cleanse it for our own kind to live there and use its power."_

_"You cannot in good conscience do this!" Demitria exclaimed._

_"My judgment is final and absolute," Mertak declared._

_Suddenly a flash of darkness appeared in the center of the chamber and when it had faded the council all gasped... it was dismembered bodies of Rangers._

_To be more precise, the thirty members of the five Ranger teams that had been sent to Earth._

_"I'd like to appeal that verdict."_

_The council all looked to the source of that voice and everyone had no idea who this being was._

_Everyone except Demitria, who fell to her knees in shock, "... May the Power help us all..." _

_Trey saw the dismembered bodies of his fellow Rangers and was about to rush at the being, and would have if not for Demitria speaking to him in his mind. **-Trey! Do not attack him!-**_

**_-But...-_**

**_-By all that is sane in the universe Trey, if you don't wish to return home in a coffin do absolutely nothing toward that man!!!-_**_ Demitria commanded._

_Trey froze in his place, in disbelief at Demitira's tone and words, _She's speaking to me normally ... and she's so afraid... who is this man?__

_"Who... who are you?" Mertak asked._

_The being just smiled at him and the council, "You have the nerve to call me a cancerous evil when you yourselves are tainted by the Darkness in your hearts. You who are the real cancers to the way of the Light. At least half of the people I see in this room don't even have the right to live."_

_"Who are you to judge anything?" Nemia spat, "You are interrupting a very important..."_

_"Be silent and appear before me," the being commanded and Nemia appeared before him in an instant, floating in mid-air.  "Councilor Nemia of Anduras. May I list your sins? You are personally responsible for the deaths of a million innocents on the planet of Hathor by selling them into the slavery of the now terminated Machine Empire leader Prince Gasket, you are responsible for selling secrets to Dark Specter which cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers..." An amused smile appeared on his face. "And you happened to kill your own parents to assume their wealth so you could maneuver yourself into your place of power." _

_The look on Nemia's face was absolute disbelief, and in her mind she wanted to know how he could have found that out. The council itself was in an uproar. There were those who felt disgusted by this news, Demitria and Trey among them. But there were those who wondered how this being had learned all of this information... and wondered what else he knew about, or who he knew about._

_"I have many talents. Finding out information that no one wants to have brought out into the open happens to be one of them," the being told her. "Now then... what should be your punishment?" He thought about it for a while and looked at her. "You want to know how you are going to die?" Nemia shook her head. "Too bad." He waved his hand to the right and everyone reacted in shock and horror at what they had just seen._

_In one motion he had just flayed all of Nemia's skin from her body, killing her instantly._

_Everyone was sickened, even Darkonda, who had done many terrible things in his life but kept them from ever being known. Mertak just looked at the man in the middle of the room and asked, "... what are you?"_

_"I am the Whirlwind of Change... the Black Wind of Chaos... I am Ahriman."_

_Many of the council started to run for the exit while others just stood frozen, Demitria and Trey among them. So was Mertak._

_Darkonda was not._

_"You don't think you are escaping my divine judgment do you?" Ahriman smiled a sinister smile as he raised his right hand, which began to glow black, "You will be made to repent for your sins and you shall repent for all of eternity... as my servants!"_

_From his hand the energy traveled across the room and Demitria thought that it was the end for her... but it wasn't. For all those who ran, the energy struck them, and they howled out in pain and agony as they felt their energy being drained into nothing and fell to the ground almost lifeless. Ahriman took their power into his own, feeling his own strength growing. But still the smile did not leave his face. Instead he suddenly spoke and what he said struck fear into everyone._

_"Now the fun begins."_

_Darkonda started to get up but felt strange. He started to scratch his hand but then the skin started to rot and fall apart. When it was gone, what he saw was a slime-encrusted hand. "What... what's happening to me? No... no... NO!!!"_

_The same was happening to all of the others that had been hit by the blast. They were all losing their normal appearance, and becoming something new. Something terrible.  Demonic beasts and creatures that Demitria herself had only seen once and had believed to have been wiped out from the face of the universe. "Evi-sevs..." _

_Ahriman looked up at Mertak as he walked over his first few completed Evi-sevs and they were a sight to be feared. Six feet tall, covered in slime to show their newborn status but underneath that slime were green scales stronger than most metals. Claws that could rip through titanium, fanged teeth that emerged outside of the mouth, small eyes narrowed and looking very hungry. Ahriman pointed to Mertak and two male councilors next to him. "Those three and only those three are your dinner... now feast."_

_Mertak didn't even have time to scream, nor did the two councilors next to him before the four Evi-sevs pounced on them with inhuman speed, knocking them off their pedestals and into the shadows. _

_Demitria thought that was a good thing, as she didn't need to see Mertak and those other two men being eaten alive. The rest of the Council felt the same way._

_Ahriman smiled as he looked upon the sight and saw that the rest of his Evi-sevs were done. He looked upon the sight of the great council. Once a membership of fifty, now cut down to only seventeen members, twenty-nine now his Evi-sevs and four people just plain dead. He looked toward Demitria, "Congratulations, Demitria."_

_"... Wh... what?" The Inquarian woman blinked in shock._

_"Now that I have eliminated the cancer from your Council, perhaps under your leadership they might actually 'do' some good." Ahriman smirked._

_"Cancer... just what you are!" Trey roared, "What do you think you have done?"_

_"It's simple, Prince Trey of Triforia," Ahriman explained, "I'm beginning my legacy."_

__What must Zordon think of him now?_ Demitria asked._

_"In case you all have been wondering who was the one that killed Zordon of Eltar... wonder no longer. I am the one that killed him," Ahriman said proudly, "May he burn in hell for all of eternity for what he had done."_

_".... YOU?! YOU WERE THE ONE TO KILL HIM! THE MAN THAT I LOVED!!!" Demitria roared, her own outrage surprising everyone including herself, but she was beyond anger, beyond caution. "HOW COULD YOU?! HOW COULD YOU KILL YOUR OWN FATHER!!!"_

_What was left of the council was in an uproar as everyone was speaking about this. That this man, this Ahriman was Zordon's son?! It was unbelievable._

_Ahriman, however, didn't care what they said. He just looked Demitria in the eyes. "Zordon of Eltar was a fool. He was a man who would have left behind a Legacy that would have brought nothing but a never-ending yearly cycle of death and destruction! He was a worthless father that allowed his fake wife to do whatever she wanted to me, including murdering my own one true love! But most of all.... he sided with the UAE to betray me and sealed me in a dimensional hell for fifty millennia! You ask me how could I have killed him... the question should be 'how could I not have killed him?'"_

_Demitria just stood there, taking all of that before Ahriman spoke again. "The UAE by the way is no more. I have eliminated most of it, and taken what was left to form my own organization. The Shadow Consortium. Earth and its solar system are now under our domain as are all former UAE territories. Any attempt by this council to invade any of them will be considered an act of war... and I will retaliate against you with deadly force. This is your one and only warning. My advice to you is that before you decide to declare war against me, you had better be sure you can kill me. Because I promise you, if we go to war... I will show you no mercy." Before anyone could say anything else, Ahriman brought his hand down and he and his Evi-sevs were gone in a flash of darkness._

* * *

Demitria knew that Ahriman's threat was not an empty one. Had they resisted then, they would have been wiped out. They had to wait. They had to build up their forces, and not just Rangers, for Demitria knew that it would not be enough. Her first act as Supreme Chancellor had been to fully reactivate the Military Forces of the Council. For many generations the fleet had been a former shell of its great glory as Rangers were proving to be more useful in the style of combat that Dark Specter and the United Alliance of Evil -- the UAE -- employed.

But Ahriman was not Dark Specter and his Shadow Consortium was not the UAE. 

Different enemies required different tactics and the revitalization of the military forces seemingly brought a booming success through out the economy of the worlds. Enlistment was at five hundred percent of normal and continuing to grow. All of these were volunteers, not drafted men and women. These were people who had been rejected from the Ranger Academies because they were not of the 'high standard' that the Council wanted of their Rangers. 

That high standard was something Demitria was trying to eliminate. She was not going to give up on the Rangers. She had once been a Ranger herself, a White Ranger, and she had seen her teammates not be conventional like many of the Council's teams had been. It was high time for new blood to be added to the Ranger Corps.

Her doorbell went off and she said, "Enter." King Trey of Triforia walked into her chambers. Demitria felt a bit of sorrow for her friend, his late father, killed by the Varox. It was also their last kill as, before anyone could place blame on Ahriman for having hiring the Varox, it was discovered that the Shadow Consortium had annihilated the Varox homeworld shortly before the assassination of King Triton. The true culprit was Triforian lord Tamtast, who was swiftly put to Triforian justice and executed on worldwide broadcast for his treachery.

"The council meeting is about to start." The newly made King of Triforia spoke.

"I know..." Demitria breathed.

"Are you thinking of Zordon... or the Earth?"

"I wonder if there is anyone at all left alive on that world," Demitria muttered. "We can't even go near that system. Not unless we want to face the majority of Ahriman's forces."

"We know the power the planet itself holds... but is that all he's really interested in, Demitria?" Trey asked.

"So you have thought the same thing that I have these last two years?" Demitria sighed. "I do believe that Ahriman has more in mind for the planet than just its magic... but what that something is I have not a clue." Deciding to put that matter aside for the moment, she walked with Trey to meet with the Council. Today they would be discussing matters of state... and the status of the war they had now finally put themselves in with the Shadow Consortium. After nearly three years of preparing, they believed that they were ready.

Demitria only prayed that they weren't just fooling themselves.

* * *

The Planet Earth

Once very lush and green, now more than half had been scorched and burned. All of the major cities were nothing more than rubble. Life was not conducted as it had been three years ago. There were no real nations any more. Only the conquered and the conquerors. 

But there were those who fought back against the aliens that had taken over their world. Resistance cells formed all over the globe to fight against the aliens and their awesome powers and weapons. The successful ones were able to reverse engineer the technology that they could take, use it for their own, and share it with other cells. A man who kept in the shadows had gathered them, calling himself Mentor. He had given many people a chance to stay alive and free.

The most successful groups came from Southern California. Commander Robert Stanton led all of the cells in the area. One of them stood out among the others: the Wild Bunch, a group of five childhood friends that had all survived the attack of their hometown and remained alive to become part of the resistance.

This is where we look now.

* * *

Underground in a secret bunker once belonging to the United States Government, Commander Robert Stanton sat at his desk awaiting the arrival of his best team. What made him feel somewhat uncomfortable was that they were merely children, forced by these horrific circumstances into this war for survival that the human race had found themselves in for the last three years. 

They weren't soldiers, not originally anyway. They had joined the resistance when they were all fourteen, only freshmen in high school yet they were among the first to join and they had successfully completed every mission that they had accepted. Still, they, along with all people, deserved a chance to live their lives in peace.

__Wishing for simpler times won't bring them back...__ Stanton let out a sigh, __We have to fight to gain our world back. Perhaps with this mission, we can bring that goal one step closer to reality.__

There was a knock on the door and Stanton knew they had arrived. "Enter," he replied and stood up as the door opened. Five teenagers all dressed in plain white outfits entered and stood in a row facing him. He looked at them, starting from the right, and saw the team medic Kimberly Hart, a petite brunette who had been able to pick up on first aid and medical procedure very quickly. In this war a medic was always needed. When she was not on missions, Stanton often found her helping the doctors and surgeons in the Medical Ward. 

Next was William Cranston. The brown haired teen was one of the brightest people that Stanton had ever had the honor of meeting. He could hack his way through just about any computer system and was capable of designing new equipment from old ideas and spare parts. 

Commander Stanton looked next at Trini Kwan, who was the second best fighter in the squad and was also an expert markswoman. The young Japanese girl had shown her skill with throwing daggers at targets from great distances as well as using a gun to shoot at similar targets.

Then there was Zachary Taylor, an African American teenager who had lost his parents during the Day of Darkness three years ago. Of the five, he along with Cranston had definitely lost their parents on that day; the other three did not know if any of their families were still alive. Zack spoke from his heart often and did occasionally make a few jokes. Stanton believed that even in war, there had to be some laughter in order to live. He was second in command of the group.

Finally, there was the commander of the unit, who had been the leader of these five even before this horrible war. He was the best fighter among them as well as an expert leader and tactician. The one Stanton was facing now saluted him. "Lt. Jason Lee Scott and the Wild Bunch reporting as ordered, sir."

"At ease. All of you," Stanton said and motioned for them to sit down on the chairs that were behind them. "Let's begin the briefing." Picking up a remote, he pressed a button and the lights went out while a viewscreen appeared. An image of a large factory within the desert appeared on the screen. "Intelligence reports received from our scouts and information from Mentor point to this factory in Grid Area Epsilon Sector 03. We have identified Droids coming in and out of the factory so we know that it belongs to the enemy. But the most important detail is that we believe there is a high probability that they are constructing some sort of weapon in the factory."

Stanton shut the monitor off and reactivated the lights in the room. "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find the weapon, download the schematics for it, and return with it. If you cannot take it then you must destroy it when you destroy the factory."

Jason looked at his team for a moment as if looking for their approval. After a few moments he looked back to Stanton. "We accept the mission."

"Very well. Go to the Armory where you will be given what will be needed for this mission. The hover jeep will be prepped by the time you reach there. That is all." The rest of the team got up. But before they left Stanton spoke once more. "And people... good hunting."

"Thank you sir," Jason said. He and the others left the room. Only when the door closed did Stanton let out a sigh and allow himself to sink into his chair. It was times like this that he asked himself why a merciful and benevolent God would allow this to happen to His children, making him have to send kids who had not even graduated high school into battle... and possibly to their deaths.

He just didn't know.

* * *

Five minutes later, all five members of the Wild Bunch had suited themselves up in full body armor. It would handle any crude weapon fired at them or used against them. However, blaster bolts would cut right through them. They knew how serious the mission was, especially with Droids involved. 

The Droids looked like a cross between the metal T-800 from the movie the Terminator that Jason had once seen and someone wearing a full body suit that covered everything except their golden skull shaped heads. They had killed many Resistance members until the creation of the EMP weapons. That had been a very lucky break for the humans.

After loading up on EMP hand weapons, assault rifles, and explosives, the five of them went to the hover jeep assigned to them, the HJ-02. Vehicles with wheels were now a thing of the past thanks to the weapons that the invaders had been sending down to attack them. The Resistance got lucky with its raids every so often, acquiring alien technology that could be reverse engineered and used by all of the Resistance cells world wide, thanks to Mentor's ability to contact them all.

The five teenagers kept silent for the most part when they boarded the hover jeep, feeling a superstitious fear of jinxing the mission. They just wanted to keep it simple, quick and get it over.

Once they were in, Jason turned on the ignition and said, "Let's get started." With that they drove off, hoping that this mission would be easy.

* * *

One hour later, the mission was well underway and it was anything but easy.

"Billy, haven't you got it yet?!" Jason screamed as he took on one of the Droids in hand to hand combat, punching it right between the eyes with his Force Gauntlets, yet another weapon developed by reverse engineering the enemy's technology, in this case the Droids' own gauntleted hands, which were in fact strength amplifiers. It explained why they were able to tear through titanium with relative ease. He and Trini were the only ones on the team who used Force Gauntlets as they were the only two members who had the fighting skill to go head to head with a Droid and stay alive... the ones who didn't were armed with blasters.

"Not yet! I still need time to finish hacking through the firewalls!" Billy shouted from the terminal where he stood, his laptop connected.

"Hurry up, Billy!" Trini shouted. "These Droids are starting to pile up!" A Droid came at her from the left but she used her Mantis style to fight back, her Force Gauntlet going right through its chest. However, she didn't notice the Droid coming up behind her with a laser gun aimed at her head. 

Kimberly did, however, and blasted it with her EMP gun. Once Trini was finished with the Droid she had been fighting she turned around and saw the downed Droid. "Thanks, Kim!"

"Any time. I mean, I can't heal a laser blast to the head," Kimberly replied with some slight humor.

"Come on, you metallic freaks! You want some of the Zack-man?" Zack snapped as he fired at the Droids at the far end, trying to keep them from reaching any closer to their position. "Just try it and you'll end up like your buddies!"

"I got it!" Billy exclaimed as his skills broke through the firewall leading to the weapon they had been searching for. "Turning on the lights in the area... now!"

When the lights came on, the weapon could be seen... and all five teens let their guard down for a moment to stare at it in awe.

It was a black metallic machine, designed to look like a knight straight out of the Middle Ages, or at least beginning to. Parts of the armor were around the sides of the loading bay by its feet. But what really shook them up was the fact that this machine was over sixty stories tall... at least.

"There is no way its going to fit on the jeep..." Zack muttered in disbelief. 

"Zack!" Kim shouted getting his attention as she fired at a Droid that had been coming at them, knocking it offline. While they had been surprised, the Droids had kept coming and their moment of carelessness might get them killed now.

Jason saw it was time to change tactics as he decided to grab one of the disabled Droids' laser rifles. Once he had it, he started blasting at every Droid in sight. Trini followed his lead as well. The odds were becoming more or less even again when Jason called out, "Billy, you got the plans downloaded into your laptop?"

Billy looked at his system and when the meter turned green he yelled out, "Affirmative!"

"Zack! We need some breathing room to get out of here!" Jason ordered.

"Got it!" Zack retorted as he dropped his gun and went for the high explosive on his vest. He threw it and screamed, "Hit the dirt!" 

Jason and Trini ran toward the others and jumped down to the ground just before the explosive hit the area where the Droids were. 

When it went off, the explosion took out the ground beneath them and the Droids started to fall, and it also made it impossible for the Droids to get to the five human teenagers.

"Alright, everyone through the back now!" Jason ordered and everyone rushed toward the back entrance, which was how they had gotten into the factory to begin with. Once outside they didn't stop running until they had gotten to their hover jeep and piled into it. Jason fired it up and they were moving across the desert area for about a minute when he pulled out a black stick with a red button on the top. "Game over," he said, pressing the button. They saw the factory explode in a blaze of glory.  "Mission complete."

"Alright!" Kimberly squealed and everyone let out their own joyous cries at getting the job done. Jason just smiled as he kept his foot on the petal and drove the hover jeep back on course to base.

It was time to go home, and hopefully they wouldn't have to worry about anything coming up from behind them. 

* * *

Unfortunately for the five of them, they would not be that fortunate or that lucky, for their actions did not go unnoticed. 

"WHAT?!!!" A high pitched female voice boomed at the subordinate that gave her the news. "What do you mean it's been destroyed?!"

"The factory working on the Hyper Mechanoid Battle System was destroyed, as was the existing prototype. We..."

_SLASH!!!_

Everyone of the bridge crew looked in fear at the being, who had just put her massive gauntlet right through that subordinate's head. "Load the Drop Fighters with Evi-sevs from the Cages, start launching them out to those coordinates, and then take the_ Vengeance_ there as well. Understood!" No one dared to disobey her. "I'm going to personally enjoy showing those fools what it means to cross Nemesis!"

* * *

"Alright! Now we really socked it to those freaking alien scum bags!" Zack hollered. "Think we might be able to get some down time once we bring in this data?"

"Assuming it's anything good," Jason said as he kept his eyes on what was in front of him.

"Are you kidding? I mean think of the size of that thing! So large that we had to destroy it when we realized we couldn't take it back with us," Kim replied. "It had to be really important, and Nemesis isn't going to be getting anywhere now with it gone."

"Billy, you made a copy of that, outside of your computer?" Jason asked.

"Affirmative." 

"Zack, hold on to that for me until we get back to base, okay?" 

"No problem. But look, Jase, I think for once we really got it made in the clear." Zack smirked as he took the disk from Billy.

"And why is it nearly every time you say that, things go wrong?!" Trini snapped. "We have company, people!"

Jason looked in the rear view mirror while the others looked up and saw the ships heading for them. "Drop Fighters. Ten of them."

"But that means there must be fifty Evi-sevs with them!" Kim gasped. "If they get us out in the open we won't be able to cut them down fast enough before they kill us!"

"No one is dying today, Kimberly!" Jason swore. "Now strap yourselves in and hold on!" Once he knew they were strapped in, he floored the accelerator and the hover ship was going over 200 mph, trying to outrun the Drop Fighters, but they were still coming after them. "Trini!"

"On it!" Trini returned as she hit the panel to the left of her. A rocket launcher pod came out from its compact compartment, its systems right at her fingertips.

"There's only four rockets in there, Jase! Even if she gets four bull eyes..." Zack started to say. 

"I know, I know!" Jason snapped. "We'll still have thirty Evi-sevs to worry about, but it's better than dealing with fifty any day!"

Trini took aim and worked with her targeting system, firing off her first rocket. It made direct contact with its target. "Yes!"

"One down and nine to go!" Kim cheered.

"Let's just hope we can get out of here," Zack muttered.

"Any chance to call for reinforcements?" Billy asked.

"Not without compromising base location. Scramble code won't reach this far out and open frequency is sure to get people killed. We're on our own," Jason said grimly.

"That's two," Trini announced as she went for her next shot. She locked on target and fired, only this time it clipped one of the wings of the Drop Fighter. A lucky break for them, this crippled ship crashed into two other Drop Fighters, taking them out with a massive explosion. 

"Oh, hell yeah!" Zack exclaimed when he saw that the unbelievable had just happened. "I knew it! I just knew Lady Luck is on our side!"

"Zack, I am going to kill you if we survive this!" Jason shouted.

"Huh?" Zack blinked, turning to look at Jason. "Why?" Jason didn't answer, just flooring the accelerator even further down. "Hey! What are you..." and that's when Zack saw it. "Um... Trini..." 

"Not now, Zack. I'm about to take my last shot..."

"I know... which is why you should fire it off at _her_!!!" 

Billy, Trini and Kimberly all turned around to see who was quickly coming up in front of them, not moving but feeling themselves growing pale.

It was Nemesis.

* * *

__These are the wretches that have caused our forces so much annoyance... bah. They are just pathetic weaklings that need to be stamped out of existence like the little rodents that they are.__ Nemesis smirked as she saw that the driver was intent on ramming her while the one with command of the projectile weapon they had was aiming it now at her.

Underneath her faceplate, her fleshless lips curved into a delicious smile. __I am sooooooooo going to enjoy this slaughter.__ She chuckled as she saw the rocket fired off at her.

She just let it hit her.

* * *

The explosion that they saw from the rocket hitting Nemesis was incredible and they actually thought they had done it.

"Did we do it... did we actually kill that monster?" Kim dared to hope.

"I don't know but that had to have at least knocked her out," Jason assumed. "Time for us to get..." Just then the hover jeep was stopped by what might have been considered an unmovable object. Had they not all been strapped in, they would have been sent flying and died on impact.

"Leaving so soon?" a sinister female voice sneered through the smoke.

All five of them felt fear growing within them, even Jason. "There's no way..."

Nemesis came from the smoke, her awesome form looming, all of them feeling even more terror building up within them as they saw it. Her voice was haughty and cruel. "But you can't go yet. We've only just met. After all..." She dug her claws into the hover jeep and, to their disbelief, lifted it over her head. 

"This can't be happening!" Kim exclaimed.

"This party is only getting started!" Nemesis screamed as she threw the hover jeep forward through the air to collide with a rock face and then fall to the ground, with dislodged boulders crashing down on it. "Awww... I hope you aren't dead yet... I've only started to have my fun... hahahahahhaha!"

* * *

On the moon within the Azure Castle, Ahriman was resting on his throne... or rather the throne that had once been the throne of the Emperor of Eltar.

__Now those were times that I would have loved to have been a part of,__ Ahriman mused as he remembered the stories and texts chronicling the history of the great Eltarian Dynasty. He loved reading those stories when he was a child growing up and would some times spend hours just reading a single book on the Dynasty. 

His father had not even been born during the time of the Eltarian Dynasty, an empire that stretched throughout all of the cosmos, uniting all people together under one leadership, under one banner, under one supreme ruler. Eltar had been the seat of power for all beings then, even more so than it was today for the forces of Light, and Emperor Caspian was the most formidable ruler that there had ever been. He stopped great evils from being formed, brought order to the worlds that had none. Even worlds that were peaceful he brought under his dominion, for it was his dream to unite all peoples so that when the greatest of all threats occurred, their existence would be assured.

There were those who had thought of Caspian as a madman for believing in this unseen enemy, and conspired to kill him. To do so, they arranged for an Eltarian woman named Hemina to enter his household as a concubine. When she was with him one night, she used all of her charms to lower Caspian's guard for the slightest of moments. It was at the height of their tryst that she thrust a dagger through his heart and killed him.

The men who conspired in this plot thought that they would become the rulers of the Dynasty, and they did, but they ruled corruptly, bringing forth the Royals and Nobles to rule the worlds and make overlords... but the people rebelled. Civil unrest became open revolution, bribery to politicians soon lead to absolute corruption. The great Dynasty was being killed from the inside... and that is when the evil force that Emperor Caspian had believed imminent had arrived, a century after his murder.

The Dynasty of Darkness. The group that would eventually evolve one day into the UAE. The Dynasty was ruled by a being that had no true name. All anyone called him... was Diablos.

The foolish Eltarians who had murdered Caspian thought that they would succeed in defeating Diablos... but they were sorely mistaken as Eltar was the first to be attacked and fell within a day. This was all because the traitorous leaders had become weak and lax and had forgotten to continue to develop their warriors and their weapons.

With Eltar in ruins, the rest of the Eltarian Dynasty ran in circles like a headless chicken, which in a sense it was. The rest of the universe fell to the Dynasty and Diablos became the ruler of all beings within five years.

Thus would begin the Thousand Years of Darkness in which the Dynasty ruled over all with an iron fist until the First Order of Meledan came into existence. At the cost of their own lives, they killed Diablos. Three thousand years of war would occur, and it would lead to the formation of two new governments. The Galactic Council for the forces of Light, and the United Alliance of Evil for the forces of Darkness.

__And now I have replaced the UAE with my Shadow Consortium. I only hope to be as wise as Emperor Caspian was. Many people still think of him as a madman when he was in fact doing what had to be done for the sake of survival._ _Ahriman shook his head as he remembered how he had come about obtaining the Emperor's throne. Incredibly, the Eltarian Museum had auctioned it off. It was bought by a man who wanted only to burn the throne and do something totally degrading over the ashes. His family were political activists and his ancestors were connected in some unknown way to the ones who had betrayed the Emperor. 

Ahriman thought he was doing the universe a favor when he slaughtered all seven hundred members of the family with only his sword, and burned their homes to the ground. No one dared to disrespect his childhood idol. An idol that his father couldn't understand... __He was always a weak willed non-interference pacifist at heart. He didn't have the stomach to take the direct approach. I have no such weaknesses._ _Out of great respect for the Emperor, he would have his throne be that of the ruler he respected most.

__How long will it take for the forces of Light to wake up and obliterate their pathetic Council, and create something... purer? Something worthy of that power?__ Ahriman smiled thoughtfully until he was interrupted by one of the monitors in his chambers. 

"Alert. Alert. Potential Ranger discovered," spoke the computerized voice that only spoke when Ahriman was the only one in this room. Getting up out of his throne, he walked towards the monitor system. "Prism, detail the Potential now."

"Processing." As the computer spoke an image of Jason appeared on the left hand corner. "Located. One Jason Lee Scott. Age 17. Potential first Red Ranger of Earth and temporary replacement Gold Ranger for Trey of Triforia in the Zordon timeline."

The smile that formed on Ahriman's face when he heard Jason's name couldn't have been wider. "At last. I have been looking for him almost as long as I have been on this world. Prism, where is he now?"

"Executing Location Sequence. Processing... ... ... Location determined. Stand by for visual," Prism announced.

Ahriman got his visual... and for the first time in a long while he was furious at what he saw. "What in the Inferno is she doing!!!" he roared, his fists clenched as he saw the damage done. He could only see Jason's head but his computer sensors were telling him that he was still alive; he was just crawling out of a wrecked hover jeep with several boulders scattered over it.  Ahriman watched as he saw Nemesis walking down toward the wreckage, like a predator ready to kill.

__That bloodthirsty sadistic witch!__ Ahriman growled as his anger grew. __I gave her precise instructions, I had her memorize the Potentials' faces, along with all of the rest of my court, and commanded her to have me contacted at once when any of them were located, so that I could make the decision about what to do... I didn't say take your own initiative!_ _

He forced himself to calm down, knowing he needed to keep a level head if he was going to make this situation work. Ahriman did not allow his anger to get the better of him, but when he gave an order he expected it to be followed to the letter. 

And Nemesis had decided to be the first to try to ignore one of those orders.

__She's going to get a **very** rude awakening...__ Ahriman vowed. __The question is how do I work this situation. How can I...__ A smile formed on Ahriman's lips as he came up with the perfect answer. "This is going to work very well..." He waved his hand over the monitors to make them disappear before closing his eyes to utter a spell of transiting. 

A new figure soon materialized within the throne room. "Wha..."

"Pardon me for taking you out of your training session with Ecliptor, but I have immediate need of your services," Ahriman said as he turned around to face the figure. "Astronema."

The Princess of Darkness walked into the light without fear of her master. Ahriman was proud of the way that she had grown, thanks to his added training and teaching along with Ecliptor's as well as Scorpina's own lessons to her. Standing before Ahriman was not the scared little fourteen-year-old mortal who might have been. That would have been a true waste of a potential warrior and sorceress, from what he had seen her become in the timeline in which his father's Legacy had succeeded.

Standing before him was a seventeen-year-old young woman who was truly worthy to be among his elite. She was dressed in a black leather body suit, which hugged all of her curves and her bosom. She also wore a pair of silver gauntlets and boots, a Wrath Staff -- just one of her many weapons -- in her hands, but he had also given her a sword made of Triforian Silver, the strongest metal in the universe. She had given it the name of Shiva. A very fitting name for it, Ahriman had thought. 

But her fighting skills were not her only weapon. Her body was a natural weapon to be used against men if needed. Long, wavy purple hair placed into intricate braids, blue eyes shining like sapphires -- she was lovely, fairly glowing with sexual energy. She had become what he had hoped to craft from her potential, and then exceeded those expectations.

The look on her face was one of absolute confidence, no fear at all in her eyes. "What do you wish of me, Lord Ahriman?" she asked without hesitation.

Ahriman simply smiled, "I have a feeling that you will enjoy this assignment." And with that he began to outline to her exactly what he wanted her to do.

* * *

Jason groaned painfully as he crawled out of the wreckage of the hover jeep. He didn't know if it would blow or not. All he knew was that when the jeep had hit the rock face, he heard screams from the others and could only wonder what had happened. "Guys... guys!" He struggled to get to his feet, feeling like he was going to fall back down again when he looked to the left and saw Trini and Kimberly, both of them not moving. "Oh please _no..."_

"Jase..." 

"Zack?" Jason whirled around to see his friend coming out from the right side of the area "You okay?"

"Been better... " Zack muttered before he was sent flying into a rock wall.

"You're going to get worse," Nemesis sneered, clearly proud of what she had just done. "So I have two dead girls, and you two aren't that far from being dead. I wonder, which should I kill first?"

"Just shut up and get it over with, you stinking witch," Jason hissed.

"Get it over with? Get it over with?" Nemesis asked incredulously. "Oh-hohohohohoho!!! Now that is a good one, flesh thing! If you haven't already figured it out, I enjoy toying with my prey... and guess what you are."

"Murderer!" 

Nemesis turned around at the sound of that scream only to see something smash right against her visor, knocking her to the ground.

"Billy!" Jason shouted.

His left arm bleeding, holding a large rock in both hands, the brains of their group had a grim smile. "Not bad for the geek, huh... just wish that... AGH!"

"BILLY!!!" Jason screamed as he saw five silver fingers go through his stomach.

"That..." Nemesis hissed in pain, "that actually hurt... I am impressed..." She made her staff appear in her free hand and raised it up. "So consider this a warrior's funeral! YAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" She screamed as she slammed the staff down into the ground and suddenly the earth split open, leading into a long dark nothingness. 

"Billy!" Zack screamed.  
  
"Say good-bye to your friends... but just for a little while. They'll be joining you in the Afterlife very soon!" Nemesis sneered as she flicked Billy off her gauntleted hand, sending him falling without a single sound into the darkness.

"NO!" Zack screamed, not believing what he was seeing. __First Kim and Trini, now Billy... this can't be happening... it can't...__

"Zack, run!"

"What?!" Zack blinked in disbelief as Jason got to his feet.

"You heard me," Jason muttered. "You're the best runner and you're in better shape than me. You're going to need to be fast to avoid the Evi-sevs when she lets them loose."

"Jason..."

"The resistance needs that data, it might be the thing that actually beats this demon into the ground once and for all," Jason told him. "You have to get it to the Commander at any cost... now get going... if she's as depraved as she said, then hopefully she'll just toy with me for a while and give you something of a head start."

"If you think I'm going to..." Zack started to say but then saw Jason pull a gun, a regular normal gun, on him. Jason was looking at him with very narrowed eyes. "Get moving! That's an order!"

Zack was fighting against every emotion that he felt, just trying to listen to his best friend and do what he had asked, as if it was his last request... which it probably was. "I love you bro..." He flashed one last look of hatred at Nemesis before running off.

Nemesis however was not impressed at all. "You think he's going to get very far? Think again. Evi-sevs!" Within seconds twenty Evi-sevs appeared right before her. "Go after the dark skinned one! He is your dinner! Eat him up slowly and divide him amongst all of you! Now go!"

The Evi-sevs obeyed like trained golden retrievers, rushing off after Zack but passing over Jason, who had a look of disgust on his face. "You sick monster..."

"And just what are you going to do about it?" Nemesis sneered as if daring Jason to come at her. Instead, Jason fired off shots from his father's gun. Nemesis just let them bounce right off her exoskeleton. "You pathetic fool!" Before Jason could even react, she charged him with inhuman speed and rammed him against a rock wall before choking him. "I am wondering just how long I can keep on squeezing your neck? Will your head just keep getting bluer and bigger like a balloon? Or is it going to pop from the top and your brains ooze out for me to see?" Under her mouth plate her lips curved into a delicious smile. "Did I ever tell you I love having brains as part of my daily meals? I enjoy cracking open human heads twice a day and having their brains for my food. I wonder what yours will taste like."

"Go... to... hell..." Jason rasped, feeling darkness starting to surround him.

"Been there, done that, got the t-shirt," Nemesis chuckled. "So what should I have to worry about?"

_BLAST!_

"NGAH!!!!" Nemesis screamed as an intense flash of energy blasted her down to the ground, making her lose her grip on Jason, who fell to the ground, barely holding on to consciousness. He didn't know what had just happened, and he couldn't think straight for much longer as everything was getting darker, but he saw someone standing above him. It was a female figure but it wasn't Nemesis.

Nemesis didn't look like an Angel of Beauty.  "Who..." Jason whispered out.

"Shhh... just rest now." A soothing female voice spoke to him. "Don't worry. You will be safe. I promise." 

Hearing that voice, Jason believed it and welcomed the darkness that engulfed him with honor. 

* * *

Astronema looked down at the young man, Jason she believed Lord Ahriman had called him, whose life she had just been told to save. To be quite honest with herself, he was an attractive young man at the very least, regardless of whatever battle scars he might have endured. 

"What the hell do you think you're doing, you little scank!" Nemesis roared as she rose from the ground. "That was my kill!!!"

"Well then, I guess it really _is_ true," Astronema said tauntingly. "All that bloodlust lowers the amount of brain cells that you have in that big head of yours."

"Why you little...!" Nemesis spat as she thrust her hands down and started to glow crimson red, flaring her battle aura to life. "You do _not want a piece of me, little girl!"_

Astronema merely pulled out Shiva from her scabbard and held it at the ready position. "Are you that eager to fall flat on your skinless ass again, like the last time we had a duel?"

"That's it! You are so dead!" Nemesis screamed as she let loose an incredible blast of energy at Astronema, energy that she believed would have been enough to strike her dead.

To her utter surprise, that energy froze in place no more than five feet in front of her. "What the...?!"

"You are now beginning to test the limits of my patience, Nemesis." A cold voice billowed in the wind.

Fear clutched Nemesis as she saw Ahriman appear right in front of Astronema with his right hand seeming to be holding back the energy that she had thrown at the girl. "You seem to enjoy dishing out punishment... let's see if you can take it for a change." With that he threw his right hand down and to Nemesis's shock, the energy was sent flying back at her. She didn't even have time to throw up any sort of defense. It rammed into her hard and fast, her screams of pain echoing through the air as she was sent right into a mountain, making a four-foot impression of herself in the rocks. She painstakingly pulled herself off the wall but when she finally did, Ahriman grabbed her by the throat.

"You have been a very naughty servant," Ahriman hissed.

"I haven't..." Nemesis started to say but Ahriman tightened his grip around her throat.

"Do not insult my intelligence, sadist," Ahriman spat angrily. "I saw everything you did. Those five that you attacked were among the 'certain humans' I instructed all of my court not to kill, for any reason whatsoever. You were to report to me at once when you saw even just _one_ of them!"

"But... why do you want these pathetic humans anyway? Don't you have enough already?" 

Her answer was a kick to the head by Ahriman that sent her to the ground. "Your only job is to follow my commands without complaint... or would you rather I unmake you?"

"No! Please! I don't want to be reduced to being those pathetic weaklings!" Nemesis shook her head, groveling on her knees.

Ahriman turned away from her, "Get up off your knees. You're starting to be as pathetic as Divatox ever was. You know I do not tolerate groveling for mercy. Only success grants anyone in my service mercy." He paused for a moment before continuing. "If you want to make this up to me then you will fetch the two young girls. They are still alive and you will bring them unharmed."

"Two... girls?" Nemesis turned to where the two girls' bodies had been, only to find that they weren't there. "Those two little brats! They were playing possum and I didn't even see it! Oh they are..." was all she got to say before Ahriman hit her in the face, sending her to the ground.

"Does what I say go in one ear and out the other? Is that brain of yours incapable of carrying out any task except for killing?" Ahriman growled. 

"No... forgive me Lord Ahriman..." Nemesis muttered as she bowed her head down.

"Find those girls, Nemesis, and if I find that you've plucked even just one hair from their pretty little heads..." Ahriman trailed off, leaving his implied threat very clear to Nemesis, who vanished in a black flash of light. 

Once she had left, Astronema turned to look at Ahriman and asked, "Are you certain she is worth having around?"

"I happen to recall a time in which you were afraid of her." 

"That was then. This is now," Astronema returned.

A small smile graced Ahriman's face. "Quite true, but Nemesis still has her uses to me, Astronema. As long as she serves a purpose, she gets to live. Once she is no longer useful..." He let it trail off from there, as Astronema got the unspoken message. 

"I understand, my Lord... and what of him?" Astronema asked, pointing to the unconscious Jason.

"Take him back with us, of course. Place him in one of the 'guest rooms' and have him cleaned up." Ahriman turned to leave but stopped and looked at her. "And Astronema, it would be better if you went in your casual wear and not your battle gear."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Astronema replied as she vanished in purple sparkles, taking Jason along with her back into space.

When Jason eventually woke up, he would be in for the surprise of his life.

* * *

William 'Billy' Cranston knew that he was going to die.

He knew it even before he started falling down this endless dark pit that Nemesis had thrown him in. His chest throbbed where she had dug her claws into him. It must have been dumb luck that she missed all of his vital organs, otherwise he would have been dead on the initial strike.

When he finally hit bottom, he was surprised he didn't die instantly. As it was, he figured every bone in his body was now turned into pulp or at the very least broken. He couldn't even move. 

He started to cry for all the people that he had lost. His parents had died in the initial bombing just like Zack's had. Kimberly and Trini were gone and he was pretty sure that in their condition, Zack and Jason wouldn't last long against that sadistic monster.

__At least... this end... might be peaceful... I hope...__ Billy thought to himself as darkness started to fill his view. 

But as he was ready to embrace death, he heard a swishing sound, as if there was a pair of doors opening. The last thing he saw before the darkness engulfed him was a figure moving up to stand over him.

It wasn't human; it was a machine.

But it wasn't a machine that belonged to the enemy.

**To Be Continued...**

_Author's Notes: Well, there you have the first real chapter of Dark Horizons. I know I originally said the chapter was to be A Light in the Darkness, but it was going past forty pages, which is why I had to divide it up into two separate chapters. A Light in the Darkness is being reworked, thanks to the split that has occurred. Aside from that, I'm curious to see what you thought of what has happened in this chapter alone. I know this is probably an annoying cliffhanger but I thought this was the best place to stop for now and leave it as it stands for the next chapter. You're probably all going to wonder what will happen to Jason, Trini, Zack, Kim and most all Billy since it looks like I've killed him off. You should know that nothing is ever what it seems to be, as you will see in Chapter 2 of Dark Horizons, A Light in the Darkness. Until then._


	3. Chapter 2: A Light in the Darkness

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I do not on the Power Rangers, they belong to Disney (aka the Mouse and co.) What do own are Ahriman, Kymera, Nemesis, Mistress Medusa, Cladius,_ _Antoinette, and the Evi-sevs. If you want to talk to me, email me at ericpaladin@hotmail.com . Now without any further ado..._

**A Light in the Darkness  
By David Knight**

Light.

That was the first thing that Billy saw when he opened his eyes. As he looked around, what he saw around him was just... nothing. There was absolutely nothing around him. It was like a wasteland but the entire area just shimmered in changing colors. It was as if he was in floating in a sphere that was constantly changing.

As he looked down at himself, he saw that he wore no clothes but rather, his entire body was glowing bright blue intertwined with white. "Am I dead?" he asked aloud.

"No. Not yet." A kind voice spoke from the nothingness.

Billy turned his head left and right to try to find the source, "Who's there?" As if on cue, a shape of white energy formed in front of him and transformed into a kind, wizened old man in white robes holding a white staff. 

"Be at ease young man, I bear no ill will to you or to your people." The man spoke kindly and humbly.

"Who are you?" Billy asked.

"In life I was once known as the great sage Zordon of Eltar."

"In life?"

Zordon sighed for a moment before speaking, "I fought for the forces of Light for many years, until the day that I fought Rita Repulsa and she trapped me in a time warp, but I trapped her into a prison of her own. That was ten thousand and three years ago...  I have been dead for the last three years."

"Last three years..." Billy muttered, but his eyes widened when he realized it. "The Day of Darkness! It happened three years ago! The day the Earth was attacked by Nemesis!"

"No." Zordon shook his head. "Not by Nemesis. She was not the one to give the order to attack your world; she is merely one of his fused servants."

"His?" Billy blinked. "... are you telling me there's someone _worse_ than Nemesis?!"

"Prepare to see the face of the true enemy to your race and all who fight for the side of the Light... and my murderer," Zordon said as he raised his staff and Billy saw a window appear in the nothingness around him. This window soon showed a man who looked like he was in his early twenties by human standards, dressed in a blue-black cloak, emerald green hair that hung to his waist, and two crimson red eyes. "This is Ahriman, the true being behind your planet's destruction."

"Ahriman..." Billy whispered as he remembered a mythology lecture from high school, "That name means the God of Darkness in the Far East... are you saying a god is the true enemy?"

"Ahriman is not a god. He is as mortal as any other living creature but he is not to be taken lightly. He is far more powerful than Nemesis or the two beings that he created her out of."

"Created her out of?" Billy asked.

"Fifty millennia ago, Ahriman was to have become the leader of the United Alliance of Evil, the force of evil that I and my fellow warriors of the Light fought against for so long. However, Dark Specter, the Grand Monarch of Evil, wouldn't allow it. He and the rest of the UAE plotted to get rid of Ahriman because they feared his power but could not kill him. They called for a truce with us of the Light, only to eliminate a greater evil, one that would have surely destroyed their way of life," Zordon explained. "As they fought Ahriman, we created an area of space to become null and void from the rest of universe and we trapped Ahriman there, believing that no one could ever escape. The seal had been made so that even the strongest beings in the universe could not get free. Once he was sealed, both sides suppressed Ahriman's very existence from future generations, so that no one even knew he existed, no one would ever try to free him."

"But he escaped," Billy assumed.

"Yes he did. He went off to the UAE and slaughtered almost everyone, some he actually spared, and those he didn't spare but did not kill he fused together to create several new beings. Nemesis is one of them. Finally he came to Earth and did away with Rita Repulsa. But before he began his attack... he came down to the planet itself to kill me."

"You were here? On Earth?" Billy asked.

"When I was in my time warp, thanks to Rita, I came to this world, to watch over and protect it from harm and to call upon allies if need be to help me," Zordon said. "This world had many potentials... and Ahriman killed many of them when he killed me."

"But why did he kill you personally?"

"... I was the one who sealed him away," Zordon said softly. "Had I not made that truce, Ahriman would most likely have not been sealed away and would have led the UAE, possibly bringing about a new Age of Darkness. I could not let that happen to the universe again. One Age of Darkness was more than enough."

Billy didn't know what to say to this man, he just didn't know. But as he looked at the old man, he couldn't find any traces of lies or deceit. He felt the anger boil in him, learning that Nemesis was nothing more than someone's pawn in a game and that his world was part of that game just made him feel sick. He couldn't stand it. "He can't just get away with this! He can't!"

"He won't... if you are willing." 

Zordon's words brought Billy's attention back to the wizard. "What do you mean, 'if I'm willing'?"

"Ahriman killed me because he wanted to prevent my Legacy from coming to pass, a Legacy that would have brought peace for many years to come. The Legacy of the Power Rangers."

"Power... Rangers?"

Zordon smiled slightly, "They would have been teenagers who I would have selected from your world. Teenagers to whom I would given the power to transform into warriors of the light to fight against the forces of evil that threatened the Earth. I had originally six powers to give, but Rita stole the sixth power. Ahriman took it back from her and threw it away in the Command Center before he killed me, calling it worthless. Those six powers along with my impending death, made me come to one final decision.

"That decision was to use all of my power to transport only the necessary and needed equipment and parts down to the prototype Command Center, the Power Chamber, which was built miles below the surface, making it capable of surviving the assault on the planet as well as other attacks that might occur," Zordon explained. "And here is where I had my friend, Alpha 5, begin work on my last gift to Earth. The Proto Chambers."

"Proto Chambers?" Billy asked.

"Seven in all, and each one being able to create one Power Ranger. Each one an enhanced version of the coin that remained and was used in this process."

"Seven? I thought there were only six."

"There was a blank coin, but there was no use for it... until my death," Zordon said. "I poured the last of my energy into bring forth the Light of Goodness, which entered into the coin, creating the seventh and final coin. What you are seeing now is but a memory of the real me. What Zordon left behind to talk only once to the one that would the White Ranger."

"Would be..." Billy asked in confusion, "... wait a minute?! You mean I am already in one of these Proto Chambers?"

"You are indeed. The Proto Chambers, because of the extensive power that they possess, can bring anyone to perfect health, even if they are on the brink of death... but this is now where you must choose." Zordon said somberly.

"Choose?"

"The path of the Ranger is one with many hardships. You may think that your time in this world created by Ahriman's evil is hard enough. Being a Ranger will make your life much harder as you must fight the evil and will have to face Ahriman himself one day. You may choose to reject the powers but you may die soon then. This may look like a forced decision as this could mean either life or death... but I implore you to accept the responsibility of being a Power Ranger. Of being the White Ranger, the leader of the Rangers and to find six other humans who will possess the character of self to be of help to you and defeat Ahriman for all time."

Billy just stared at the image of Zordon, thinking over everything that he had heard, over everything that had happened to him these last few years. About the responsibility he would have to accept by taking these powers.

But most of all... he thought about his friends and how he wanted to be able to help them, more than anything. 

Regardless of whether they were dead or alive.

Finally, he gave his answer. "I accept."

Zordon smiled. "Thank you... might I know your name, young man?"

"Billy."

"Billy. When you awaken you will find yourself changed, but I assure you it will be for the better," Zordon said, as before Billy's eyes, he started to fade. "My time with you is at an end. I wish you luck. May your inner spirit serve to be your true guide."

"My inner spirit? What do you mean?" Billy asked the departing spirit. "Zordon wait! Zordon!" No response. The wizard was gone. Yet Billy was not alone.

Forming out of the shadows and light of the area, a blue white wolf materialized in front of him. It stared at Billy in his eyes, as if looking into his soul, and as Billy looked into the wolf's eyes, for reasons he couldn't understand he felt that this animal was some part of him that had been missing for some time.

In knowing that, he accepted this force for what it was. The wolf then leapt into its human bearer and then all became white.

* * *

The first thing he heard was a hissing sound and feeling something coming off of his body. __Restraints maybe...?__ He didn't know. All he knew was to move up and out of where he was and...

"Wait... the pain... it's totally gone..." Billy muttered in disbelief as he reached to feel his stomach, to touch the wound that Nemesis had given him. Instead he felt something smooth over his body. Looking at his hands, he saw that he was wearing white gloves. "What am I..."

Anything he could have said was cut off when he caught his first look at himself in the reflective walls of the chamber. He was taken by surprise at what he saw. He looked taller than he had should have been, yet it didn't feel awkward to him at all. The armor that covered his entire body looked like it was white plastic but Billy could tell that this was definitely not plastic over his body. This armor was stronger than any man made substance found on Earth by far. He had golden wrist and leg cuffs as part of the attire, a white belt with a silver rectangular shaped device in the center, which contained a golden coin with the emblem of a tiger on it. There were also thin golden bands above his elbows, a gold and black chest plate over his upper body, with a wolf emblem in a golden circle on the front, a helmet with a smooth, angular mouth plate with no lips, and a gold holder on his left hip with a curved sword with a tiger headed hilt inserted. His helmet was entirely white, save for the golden shape made to represent a tiger.

What Billy felt running through his body was a power that was indescribable. He couldn't think of a single word to describe what he felt. It was as if every cell in his body was bursting with power and then some.

"Thank goodness you're alright," a synthesized voice spoke from behind him. Turning around he saw a timid looking automaton behind him, holding his hands up. "Please don't do anything rash."

"You... it was you... who put me in the Proto Chamber," Billy realized. "You saved my life."

"No. You chose your life by accepting Zordon's offer," the machine said. "My only regret is that I couldn't do more to help this poor world." 

Billy noticed the tones of sadness, even though it was a machine. "You've been here all alone, haven't you?"

"For ten thousand years, I alone stayed with Zordon here on Earth," the robot sighed, his voice showing Billy the respect for the great wizard he had. "These last three years have been the hardest of all. A universe no longer with Zordon. Watching as this world has sunk farther down into darkness." 

"It won't. Not if I can do anything about it," Billy vowed. "So, do you have a name?"

"I'm Alpha 5."

"Well Alpha, how do I..."

"Demorph? Just think it and it will happen," Alpha replied.

Thinking of returning to his normal appearance, Billy soon found himself clothed in what remained of his resistance clothes, holes in the shirt made by Nemesis's claws going through his chest still there. A reminder of what he went through. Strangely enough though, his clothes felt rather tight on him. 

When he caught his reflection in the walls, he saw that the changes he felt weren't just limited to his morphed form. His normal human body had gone through changes as well. He looked as if he had grown a few inches, gained a physique that rivaled Jason's, and that was pretty damn good. However it looked blurry for a moment so he decided to take off his glasses, thinking to clean them to fix the problem, only to realize something else.

He now had 20/20 vision.

"Alpha... what... what did the chamber do to me?" Billy asked.

"The Nature of the Proto Chamber is not only to give seven humans enhanced Ranger powers but also to enhance their own physical attributes, so to give them a better chance at victory no matter the situation you are in, for there could be times when you could be knocked out of morph."

Billy looked himself over, feeling his newfound strength and running through all of the options in his head. "This is heavy."

"That's putting it mildly."

"Alpha, this might sound somewhat strange," Billy started to say, "But you wouldn't happen to have any spare clothing down here would you? I kind of need to change." 

* * *

Out in the desert, two young girls were struggling against the elements of nature and aliens in order to survive.

"Billy... that evil witch..." Kimberly groaned as she leaned on Trini for support. Every step she took was an agonizing one. When they had crashed, the two of them had been thrown from the hover jeep. However, while Trini managed to escape with some small cuts, Kimberly had gotten much rougher treatment. Though she couldn't say what it was, she knew she had internal injuries. Her coughing up of blood a little while ago was proof of that. 

Trini had reacted fast, making it look like they were dead to Nemesis when she first came to, but then when her back was turned she took Kim and started to get out of sight, mainly to see if they could make a sneak attack on the alien demon.

Billy had beaten her to that idea and paid for it with his life. Her last sight of him was falling down a chasm made by the murderous fiend. When Jason gave Zack the order to run, she knew he would have given that same order to her. So they ran.

Ran as best as they could in any case. They had no idea how long they had been on the run since the attack but they had just kept moving, hoping and praying that they could make it to some place where they could have a real chance at staying alive.

Sadly, prayer did not help them in this case.

"There you two are." A haughty and despised voice spoke from behind them.

"Damn you!" Trini spat as she twirled around, her force gauntlets on as she struck out at the demon, only for her to hold her hands back as if she was a baby.

"Funny, I kind of figured you'd be spouting off more curses than that at me," Nemesis sneered as she gave Trini a kick to the stomach that sent her spiraling against a rock face.

"Trini!" Kimberly gasped as she laid on the ground not to far away from where Trini was, unable to do much of anything to help her friend.

"For all the trouble you've caused," Nemesis sneered, walking over to Trini, "I'm going to enjoy taking you two brats alive."

"... not a chance," Trini breathed emotionlessly as she painstakingly pulled a knife from her boot.

"And what do you plan on doing with that?" Nemesis smirked. "Throw it at my head?"

"No."

What Trini did surprised both Kimberly and Nemesis... she stabbed herself in her stomach. Looking up at the alien, she gave a grim smile, "Now... let's see you take me alive, witch..."

"TRINI!!!" Kimberly screamed out in horror and disbelief. She tried to move but only further aggravated her own injuries as her pain increased. __Oh god... oh god some one please have mercy on us! Just end it all one way or the other!__

* * *

Billy looked at himself now in the walls of the chamber, seeing as they also served as mirrors. "I still can't believe how I look now." He was now dressed in a pair of white pants and a sleeveless shirt. He was also wearing a pair of white sneakers. All of these clothes looked clean and were from before the war. "And you just created them?"

"Well the main generator and most power is being put to use on the completion of the Proto Chambers, but some subsystems have their own individual personal generators. The synthesizers are one such system though there really hasn't been much need for them until now."

"I would imagine," Billy replied. "But I'm still amazed by all of this. It's going to take a while for me to..."

_-Oh god... oh god some one please have mercy on us! Just end it all one way or the other!-_

"Kim?!" Billy whirled around, trying to find out where that came from.

"Billy?" Alpha questioned.

"I heard Kimberly... but I thought..." Billy shook his head, trying to clear it.

"No wait. Don't try to clear your head." Alpha spoke, "White Rangers were extremely powerful, not just because of their purity but also because a number of them had special gifts. It differed from person to person, but all White Rangers seem to be able to feel when those they care for are in danger."

Billy just nodded, letting himself feel for Kimberly and Trini. For reasons he couldn't explain, he felt them becoming weaker, as if they were fading away. "I have to help them. I thought they were dead but now that I know they aren't I have to save them! How can I get there?"

"Morph into your Ranger form and you will be able to teleport to them." Alpha told him.

"Alright," Billy nodded as he pulled out his morpher_. _Well, ready or not here we go.__ "WHITE RANGER POWER!" In a flash of light, Billy was transformed into the White Ranger and then faded as a streaking white light.

"Good luck Billy," Alpha prayed but was soon distracted by a blinking light on one of the computers. He went to look it over. What he saw made him feel what could only be described as joy.

Pink Proto Chamber: Completed. Yellow Proto Chamber: Completion in 85 minutes.

* * *

Nemesis was at a loss at what to do with the two dying humans, she was wondering what Ahriman would to do her when suddenly a voice brought her out of her ponderings.

"Get away from them, Nemesis!"

Nemesis and the two severely injured and dying young women looked up to see a figure on a rock hill. A figure that Nemesis recognized by attire. "... A Ranger?"

"The White Ranger," he said before jumping down to the earth but landing a kick squarely in her chest that sent the monstrous woman into a rock wall. "And this is where you are stopped, demon."

Nemesis pulled herself off the rock wall, her body aching from her master's lashing earlier, but still she knew she had more than enough strength to take out a simple Ranger. __And Ahriman didn't say to me that I couldn't kill any Rangers that came my way. He just said don't kill those girls... well they were the ones to hurt themselves. Guess maybe the great planner should have thought about sending someone other than me after them. Oh well, no time to worry about them. There's someone who I can kill now without getting punished, and I'm going to love taking out all of my frustrations on his body!__

"Well, what are you waiting for?" White Ranger asked.

"Nothing," Nemesis sneered as her staff appeared in her hands, "Except plotting your torture!" She rushed at him with her staff and took swings at him but every single one was blocked by his saber. Yet she wasn't getting frustrated. Not in the slightest. For the first time in a long while, she was finding a challenge. She had slaughtered some of the so-called 'greatest' Rangers of all time. Those who had been sent here three years ago. She cut them to pieces, severing their heads, but after the fun she felt very empty. It had just been a slaughter. Even on Earth, with her attacks and murderous hunts, hours after them she would feel empty, until she went out on another hunt and killed again.

But now, with this Ranger, it was different. He wasn't dying easily like the others. They were stalemated. The blood running through her tubes and her veins was pumping faster and faster, boiling with hot flaming adrenaline as she was pushing herself harder and harder, and the lust that she felt for blood was dying out and being replaced with another lust, a lust that had been in her black heart for so long but never brought out because of her constant killing.

The lust for a worthy opponent.

"Finally, someone who doesn't die easily!" Nemesis threw her head back in joy as she was still deadlocked with this ranger who was constantly on the offensive, but neither he nor her could take any advantage.

"Where's your master?" the White Ranger demanded to know.

"Master?" Nemesis blinked under her visor. "I serve no master, Ranger."  
  
"Really? Then does the name _Ahriman_ mean nothing to you?" the White Ranger shot.

__What?!__ Nemesis froze in shock, __How did he know! How did he...__ Her moment of shock had let her guard down, allowing the White Ranger to ram his saber right through her stomach. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" she screamed out in agony as she kicked him away from her, taking his sword out of her body when he fell. Nemesis fell to the ground; her stab wound spilling her black-red blood over the ground. With one hand she clutched her wound while the other one was covered in her blood as she saw... yet she just laughed at this. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Oh, I like you Ranger! I like you a lot!" She got up using her staff as support and started to charge herself for power, "But I don't like to lose. You're good on the physical level... but let's see how well you can do against magical assaults!"

"Are you a coward Ahriman, not to even face me?! That you have to send monsters like her down to do your dirty work while you sit in safety like the coward you are!" The White Ranger snapped.  
  
Nemesis was about to fire a blast of magic when a black bolt of lightning struck the ground between them, separating the two. "There is one thing I do not tolerate above all else." A voice spoke out and everyone looked to a cliff that was to the left, to see a figure standing on the top. "And that is being called a coward." 

"Ahriman," the White Ranger growled.

* * *

Ahriman looked down at the White Ranger below him with masked surprise. He recognized the armored look, which belonged to the White Ranger his father had created, or would have created. __But this isn't possible. I killed Father. This Ranger should not exist.__ Glancing to the girls below and seeing their condition, he knew he would have to talk to Nemesis again once this was over. 

But for right now he had to deal with this Ranger. He had been in meditation when this caught his attention. He needed to know more about this Ranger and intended to do so.  Looking down at the White Ranger he asked, "I am curious as to how you learned my name as well as how many members there are in your team. Were you sent by the Council or are you some sort of independent group of Rangers that I have yet to hear of?"

"None of the above. I was chosen by Zordon of Eltar."

Ahriman's eyes widened slightly at the mention of that name, "That's impossible. Zordon of Eltar is dead."

"Because you killed him three years ago... when you ordered the attack that would become known as the Day of Darkness, you foul demon!" the White Ranger snapped.

Ahriman heard the gasps and murmuring from the girls without even looking at them. He knew now that any chance to have them on his side was now shot to hell thanks to this Ranger's outburst. He also knew that somehow, in some unknown way, his father had managed to get some of his Legacy brought into existence. __Are you trying to make my life a living Inferno even when you are dead, Father?__ Ahriman asked himself before deciding on what to say to the White Ranger. "So you've talked to him. Did he say anything else?"

"Only that you are true evil and must be destroyed!" the white Ranger declared.

__So, keeping secrets from them are you? That can be your undoing, Father. You should know better than not to explain everything... but then again, you never learned that lesson when you were alive,__ Ahriman mused as he looked back at the White Ranger. "I see. You've already been poisoned by his lies so that you don't even know my side of things. Of the order and the future that I am trying to bring."

"Anything that has you as a leader must be evil and therefore must be destroyed!" the White Ranger hissed.

"Really..." Ahriman said with a smile before dropping to the ground, landing on his feet before pulling out his sword. "Then let's see if you can't back that up. Come and let's see how well you stand up to Ghaleon."

The White Ranger didn't waste any time, he just came at Ahriman with sword swings and strikes, yet Ahriman easily blocked every last one. He wasn't even moving anything else save his sword hand. "Fight back monster!"

"Patience. I'm just testing you to see who you really are..." Ahriman said casually but suddenly his eyes narrowed and his face lost all playfulness. Now the White Ranger saw only a face of stone. "And you aren't him." It was then that Ahriman finally went on the offensive, striking first with the hilt of his sword, striking the helmet first on its side and then delivering an 'X-cut' to the chest before finishing it off with a kick to the stomach. "And you thought you actually had a chance to defeat me? You aren't even properly trained in swordsmanship. What made you think..." he stopped as he felt something on his face. He touched his left cheek and felt the cut there. It was a small gash, easily healed, but that was beside the point. Someone had actually been able to cut him in the face.

That was a feat no one had ever been able to do before.

"... I am impressed," Ahriman said respectfully to the slowly rising White Ranger, "You must be feeling those last blows, the pain from them, but consider them badges of honor. You've managed to do something no one has ever done to me before and you have shown me your potential. It must be great if you were able to do this to me." Sheathing his sword, he looked at the White Ranger with a smile on his face. "This is your lucky day. You get to live and you can take the two girls with you." He turned away from him and started walking away. "Nemesis. We are leaving."

"But...!"

"Do not question me for a _third_ time..." Ahriman growled. Frightened, Nemesis vanished in a flash. Ahriman was about to leave but turned back to look at the White Ranger for a final time. "Train yourself well if you wish to live. Nemesis is one of the stronger fighters I have... but she isn't _the_ strongest." With that said he vanished in darkness.

* * *

Trini and Kimberly looked on in awe and disbelief at what they had just witnessed, however they did not have much time left to really wonder about it. Even if saved from the monster that would have killed them, they knew they were going to die.

"Guess this is the end huh..." Kimberly muttered.

"At least... we'll die with honor..." Trini wheezed as she felt herself getting weaker with every passing moment.

The White Ranger rushed over to them as fast as he could and saw their condition. "Oh no. This isn't good." He put his right hand to his helmet where the mouth would have been and spoke into it. "Alpha! Can we teleport more than just me to the Power Chamber?"

"Yes, but we won't be able to use the teleporters for at least a day. Power is being used on the Proto Chambers' completion," a voice answered.

"Okay, do it," he said as he disconnected and put his hands on both of them. "I just found you two again and I'm not going to lose you."

"Found... again...?" the two girl muttered almost in unison until they picked up on the voice and couldn't believe it. _"... Billy?!"_

That was the last thing that they said before they felt their molecules being transported from one place to another.

* * *

In the Azure Castle, Ahriman sat on his throne, the scratch left by the White Ranger already healed but not forgotten. He was definitely intrigued by the potential of that young man.

Nemesis was now in the throne room on her knees, still aching not just from Ahriman's earlier punishment, but also from her battle with the White Ranger. "My Lord, I know I made a mistake in not calling you and before that what I did was unacceptable... but I ask you that you allow me to lead the hunt against the White Ranger. I will fight him and I will..."

"Denied."

Nemesis looked up in surprise. "But... why?!"

"Because you'd slaughter him the first moment you got a chance at victory," Ahriman answered her. "That White Ranger has great potential... but he's been poisoned by my father's ghost...however insane that may be... but it is the only explanation for this Ranger's appearance."

"I... don't understand."

"Somehow my father has decided to torment me from beyond the grave. When I set him free and put his soul to rest I thought he'd go to the Aftertime, and then hopefully to Parmecia..." Ahriman growled. "Instead he's found a way to bring forth a part of his legacy. He's already selected one and those two girls I am certain will soon make three. So now we will have three very potentially dangerous enemies to worry about... and it's all thanks to your incompetence that this situation has even occurred."

Nemesis didn't even speak. She just kept her head lowered.

"I see you've attempted to master keeping your tongue from hissing when there is no need for it," Ahriman said, amused. "As of now you are to continue as you have been... except for these changes. One, you will not engage the White Ranger or any other Rangers with him unless I have given you authorization. Two, you will keep your eyes open at all times for any of the remaining 'certain humans' on file that I gave to you. Memorize them and bring them to me discreetly and unharmed. Failure in this case this time will result in your unmaking... have I made myself clear?"

"... ... ... Crystal, my Lord," Nemesis muttered.

"Now get out of my sight," Ahriman ordered, and she obeyed.  When she was gone, he let out a sigh. "Well, at least it was not a total loss." A smile formed on his face. "After all, I did manage to obtain the best of the entire group. Without Jason, I'd say that you'll have something of a hard time organizing your team, Father..." The smile dropped from his face. "But I swear, whether you act against me as a ghost or as something else, if you can hear me, know that I will do everything in my power to prevent your Legacy from ever being fully realized." He pulled out his sword and sliced his palm open slightly. "I swear, upon my own blood."

* * *

In the Power Chamber, Billy didn't have any time to really explain anything to the girls, who almost resisted his help until he tore his helmet off to show them that it really was him. He had them get onto medical beds and told them to stay there as it would be best to lie down in comfort, not to aggravate their injuries. When Billy saw the readouts, he knew they were dying but he was disturbed by how Trini had been injured. "You tried to kill yourself? Why?"

"I didn't... want to be tortured... in war ... committing _sepukku_ is not a sin..." Trini rasped.

"So that's what committing suicide is in Japanese..." Kim breathed out, her own injuries were very severe internally but she had a few hours more to live. Trini had less than one.

"I can't lose you two now." Billy shook his head.

"Billy... it's okay... at least... you're giving me an honorable death..." Trini said, happy that if she was going to die, it would be with friends and in peace.

"Um... excuse me, but I don't think either if you has to die if you don't want to." Alpha spoke up from behind Billy. When the girls saw him, they were too weak to let out any kind of cry. Instead they were just surprised.

"What... is that?" Kim asked.

"His name is Alpha, and it's a long story but... Alpha, what do you mean they don't have to die if they don't want to?" Billy wanted to know.

"The Pink Proto Chamber is ready now and the Yellow Proto Chamber will be ready within the hour. Your friends can use them like you did to survive," Alpha explained.

"What? Survive?" Trini asked.

"Nemesis had her gauntlet going right through my body when she attacked me. I fell into a cavern a long way down until I hit bottom. I was going to die, but Alpha found me, put me in the White Proto Chamber and Zordon explained to me about Ahriman, how he's the true evil behind everything that's happened to our world," Billy told them. "But I can tell you the history of things after we help you, if you want to."

"What do you mean if we want to?" Kim questioned.

"There's a price tag to this. The Proto Chambers can save your life...but they are meant for transforming humans into Power Rangers and I'm now one of them. Once used, they can't be used again until the person who used it has either died or can find a way to transfer it to someone else. If you accept, then you're going to have to work with me, train and prepare for the battle that must come... fighting Ahriman," Billy explained. "And he's much more powerful than Nemesis. Zordon gave me this same speech... so I'm now giving it to you."

"... There isn't a question about it in my mind," Trini spoke without hesitation. "I accept."  
  
"Alpha?" Billy motioned.  
  
"Right." Alpha nodded as he went to the medical bed Trini was on and had it go into hover mode so that he could move it to the Proto Chamber without disturbing her. Billy did the same with Kim to bring her closer and be ready for her turn. When they were at the chambers, Alpha opened up the Pink one while Billy picked Trini up into his arms and laid her down gently inside.

"See you soon," Billy said to her.

"Likewise..." Trini rasped as he closed the chamber door. Billy looked at her form through the chamber window before Alpha activated it and then all that Billy could see was pink energy swirling all around.

"I hope it's not too late..." Billy muttered.

"...When did you lose your glasses?" he heard Kimberly say from behind him. When he turned around she also asked, "And you look... taller..."

Billy's face reddened a bit at the comments. "Side effect of the chamber. Enhances physical characteristics of the person that ends up inside of the chamber."

"So like, I could end up taller and with a better body?" Kim scoffed. "Yeah, right. Day that happens will be the day I'm like a girl in the model mags."

"We'll see," Billy said, amused but quickly sobering. "... I didn't think... when I saw the two of you lying on the ground before I thought..."

"It's okay... we thought the same thing about you and the other guys... you see them at all?" Billy shook his head. "Then we can only hope they got as lucky as you did."

An hour later, Trini was still in her chamber but the Yellow one was completed. Billy put Kimberly inside, sealed it up and had it activated. Yet as he saw the only two friends he had left in this world who he knew were still alive, he kept thinking about what Kim said and about his own feelings.

He could only pray that wherever they were, Jason and Zack were all right.

* * *

Zack Taylor was running as best as he could to escape the Evi-sevs that he knew were hunting him down. He had the data left from the mission and no matter how bad his condition was, he had to get it to the commander.

Unfortunately for him, the Evi-sevs were relentless. They didn't seem to tire as he did and when human beings tire out, they make mistakes.

Like the one he had just made, getting him trapped in a bog like swamp. Behind him were a set of trees and in front of him, blocking the only way out, were the Evi-sevs, all of which were drooling from the mouth and salivating at the prospect of tearing him to pieces and eating him alive. 

__Well... guess this is the end,__ Zack mused as he waited. He saw one of the Evi-sevs decide to be first. It ran at him full speed, jumped at him with its mouth open, its many sharp teeth exposed...only to fall dead to the ground with a short sword through its skull.

"What the...?" Zack blinked, looking around to find who it was who had saved his hide. The Evi-sevs were also looking for whoever it had been so that they could have something else to kill.

A rustle from the leaves to the west was all it took for the Evi-sevs to pounce in that direction. Unfortunately it was a setup as they found only a few squirrels there. Before half of them could even turn around, they were cut down by a torrent of attacks. It was then that Zack could truly see his saviors.

"Ninjas?" Zack muttered in disbelief. Only in the kung-fu movies he had watched as a kid had he ever seen them. They were all dressed in black, the only difference between them being a ribbon of extra color around them. Red, blue or yellow. Red ones seemed to actually fly in the air, the ones with blue seemed to use attacks that involved water, while the ones in yellow actually seemed to go sinking into the ground and then come up from behind in surprise attacks.

The Evi-sevs had been able to deal with standard soldiers and resistance fighters before, but never had they ever fought against fighters as skilled or as crafty as ninjas before. Within a few minutes all of the Evi-sevs were dead, and other than the ninjas, Zack was the only living being around. He saw two of them approach him and knowing how well they took out the Evi-sevs, began wondering just what exactly they planned on doing to him.

"What are we going to do with him?" one of the red striped ninja's asked.

"Those monsters are getting more vicious. He nearly led them to our home. We should eliminate the threat," one of the yellows said pulling out a _kunai_ blade.

His hand was held back by one of the blues, a female one at that. "Just what do you think you're doing?" she hissed. "We are ninjas. Not cowards. We don't sink to the level of our enemies."

"But the safety of the academy..." the one that been ready to strike Zack started to say but the female ninja fixed a glare on him. 

"We need to know more about what's going on with these things. Take one of the creature's corpses back with us for analysis. The stranger we take alive and unharmed. We need to work with other people who fight against this evil," she said.

"Sensei might not share your viewpoint," the red one spoke.

"We'll find out, won't we? In either case we can't let him go without questioning him, now can we?" the female ninja pointed out, a fact that both agreed with. "He comes with us. I'll prepare him for the trip. Now sound the order to return to the Academy before we are detected."

"Yes, my lady." They both bowed before sounding the order. Zack walked up to the woman. "Hey thanks for..." To his surprise she spun around and a rope wrapped around his arms, tying them together while she held the other end. "Hey!"

"This is just so you don't go anywhere," she said as she pulled out a blindfold. "And I'm not going to have you jeopardize our location to anyone, which is why you are going to wear this." 

"Hey, don't I get any say in this?!" Zack snapped.

"If you want to live, you are going to behave, do as you're told and answer our questions. Once we determine if you are with the enemy or not we can figure out what happens to you next. We didn't survive the last three years by being fools." 

"Can't I even get a name?" Zack asked before she put the blindfold on him.

"No," she answered as she saw the ninjas now on the move. She turned to the one who had been ready to silence Zack. "Take him back to the Academy, and if I find that he isn't there and in one piece know that your life will be forfeit."

Though he thought this was a bad idea, he knew the law and would do nothing to Zack. Without another word, he left with Zack, who felt himself being dragged into the unknown.

His only thoughts were of his friends, hoping that they were still alive... and if they weren't, he hoped they were at peace.

Wherever they were.

* * *

Meanwhile, in another plane of existence, Trini Kwan was only now beginning to stir awake. She wondered where exactly she was now but as she looked around all she could see was a great big nothingness. She felt like she was floating in midair, surrounded by a warm pink glow. After all these years it felt like something given to her straight from heaven.

Before she could even think of anything else, she saw a being in front of her. A large pink praying mantis with keen yellow eyes that were looking right at her, as if to stare into her soul. As Trini looked into the strange mantis's eyes, she could feel a kinship between her and the being. As if it was a part of her.

As if hearing that, the mantis came towards her, becoming ethereal and joining to her body, her spirit. At first she could have resisted, but she didn't, because the moment the spirit made contact with her, she knew that they were meant to be together and that all would be right.

And then light shone forth through her eyes, bringing her back to the world of the living.

* * *

"Billy! Billy, wake up!" 

"I am up, Alpha," Billy groaned from the chair he had put himself in, sitting right in front of the Proto Chambers. He couldn't sleep at all, not with his friends in their condition, and yet he had halfway fallen asleep due to fatigue. Morphing twice and fighting morphed had drained him, but his friends were always on his mind.

"Billy, look!" Alpha cried.

Billy did and saw the Pink Proto Chamber opening up now, and watched Trini as she came out of the chamber on her own.

What came out was not exactly Trini. Instead the woman who came out of the chamber looked like a statuesque goddess in Pink Ranger armor, ready to do battle with the forces of evil. Her suit was made of the same material that Billy's had been, only instead of being in white, she was in bright pink. At her side was a pink colored blaster in a pink colored holster. There was a belt around her waist with the same silver colored device Billy had, only the coin in hers had a pterodactyl symbol on it. In the chest piece, there was a golden coin with a Mantis emblem on it, located in the center of the suit's white chest diamond. Her chest plate was molded to reflect her female gender. On her back were two side-by-side white diamonds. Her helmet was entirely pink colored except for the bottom half, which was white, and was shaped to represent the pterodactyl. 

"Billy..." the Pink Ranger spoke, her voice sounding strong and like an angel's.

"Trini... Trini, you're alright!" Billy exclaimed as he immediately hugged her tightly, glad to have her back to normal health. __Well, beyond normal health in this case.__

"Billy, the pain's all gone. It's incredible! How could..." Trini stopped speaking as she looked at her childhood friend through her helmet. "... Billy... what happened to you?"

"I've gone through some changes," Billy said with a sly smile. "Just like you have."

"What?" Trini asked, not understanding until she realized that she was now wearing something that she had never seen before. When she caught sight of her reflection in the wall, she let out a gasp. "Oh my... oh my goodness..."

"The Proto Chambers enhance physical attributes of the one who goes through the process," Billy replied. "It's why I look as I do now and why I have perfect vision."

"What?" Trini gasped.

"That's right. I don't need glasses any more," Billy smirked. He smiled wider as he looked at Trini, still looking at herself in awe. "How does it feel?"

"Like nothing I've ever experienced before," Trini breathed. "My entire body feels like there's energy running through it. It's just... incredible. Absolutely incredible."

"I know." Billy nodded. "That's how I felt when I first morphed."

"So," Trini said. "I know I have a lot of questions to ask, but first on my mind is this: who was the guy who looked like he was Nemesis's boss?"

Billy's eyes narrowed at that. "His name is Ahriman, and he is the real enemy, Trini." 

* * *

As Billy began to explain to Trini all that he knew about Ahriman, Kimberly was also in a dream state, as the two of them had been, only her surroundings were all yellow. She felt, oddly enough, at peace in this place. She felt as if she was flying in air.

As she was doing this, she soon came face to face with a yellow crane with pink tipped tail feathers and eyes. When they saw each other, Kimberly felt a connection between the crane and herself. As if this bird was meant to exist as a part of her.

As had happened with her friends, the Crane spirit joined with Kim, she felt a sense of goodness and completeness with the joining and felt that things would become better. That was all she had a chance to think before her world was engulfed by blinding yellow light.

* * *

"That monster..." Trini hissed.

"I know." Billy nodded, his own disgust for Ahriman very apparent. "He has to be stopped, Trini. That monster needs to be stopped before another soul is..."

"Oh my head... I feel like I got run over by something very large..." a familiar groaned aloud.

"Kim?!" Billy and Trini cried in unison as they turned around to see the Yellow Proto Chamber had opened up and now a yellow armor-clad figure was getting out of it. Billy and Trini just stared at her in disbelief for a while when they got a really good look at her. Trini took off her helmet just to make sure her helmet wasn't affecting her vision in this case. It wasn't. "Kim?"

"Trini! Thank God, you're alive! It really did work then! I mean I feel so charged and..." 

"Kim... look at yourself in the mirror," Trini told her best friend.

Kimberly turned to face the wall on her right to look at herself... and couldn't believe it. "... oh my goodness..."

She had been petite and small, standing around 5'2" or 5'3". That wasn't the case now. She looked like she had been transformed into the goddess Aphrodite and Artemis rolled into one. She was standing at least 5'7" now but she didn't feel any different. Her body had changed, giving her more mass as far as the build of her body but it didn't make her look grotesque, rather it made her all that more attractive, even if she was barely being covered by her lemon yellow armor. Like the others, it was made of plastic looking material that wasn't really plastic. At her side was a yellow colored blaster in a yellow colored holster. The coin in the belt around her waist had a saber-tooth tiger symbol on it. In the chest piece, there was a golden coin with a Crane emblem on it, located in the center of the suit's white chest diamond. Her helmet was entirely yellow colored and was shaped to represent a saber-tooth tiger.

Billy was left gaping at the sight of the new Kim, unable to fathom how a huge physical change occurred for her while he and Trini had slight to modest enhancements thanks to the Proto Chamber.

Slowly, Kim took off her helmet and after putting it on a table, ran her hands over her upper body, as if to feel this was real. "No... way..."

"And to think you were only joking before about becoming one of those magazine cover girls," Billy mouthed, earning him an elbow in the ribs from Trini.

"Not very tactful," Trini replied.

"No, Trini, it's okay," Kim muttered, still in disbelief over her change, "I guess the old saying is true."

"Which one?" Trini asked.

"'Be careful what you wish for,'" Kimberly said with a sly smirk. Everyone shared a laugh at that, even Alpha. The two girls ended up demorphing after being told how to by Billy, and found their bodies were still the same, regardless of them being morphed or not. Kimberly took a walk back and forth the length of the chamber to see if her walking had been impaired at all and found that even though she had grown several inches, it was as if she had naturally grown to this height. "This is a lot to absorb and I mean a lot." A smile was still on her lips. "That doesn't mean I'm not going to enjoy this though."

"I think we should get you changed though," Billy suggested, noting the condition of their clothing. "I don't think you want to stay in those torn clothes."

"Like what?" Kim asked.

"Follow me and you can look for yourself," Alpha said to the girls. Trini walked while Kim was right on his heels. A chance to get to chose her clothes made her feel a bit nostalgic about the good old days, something that Trini and Billy saw.

A short while later, Billy saw the two girls come back, both dressed in clothes reflecting their Ranger colors. Trini was wearing a pink t-shirt and blue jeans while Kim was in a yellow windbreaker outfit.

"Took some time to shop?" Billy quipped to Kim.

"Well, that too, but Trini filled me in on what you told her about Ahriman," Kim said softly, but noticed the anger in Billy's eyes when his name was said. "Billy, I know he's the bad guy now but you can't get pissed off whenever someone says his name."

"I know, I know..." Billy shook his head, he was still trying to sort through his emotions regarding the whole thing. "I hate what he's done, to us, to our world."

"But why did he do it?" Kimberly asked.

"Does it matter? He's evil, Kimberly," Billy replied. "Haven't you seen enough proof of that?"

"Maybe he's evil, but it sure as hell matters to me to find out why he did what he did," Kim returned, her own glare as fierce as Billy's. "Billy, only psychopaths do something without a goal or reason in mind. Nemesis is a psycho, Ahriman isn't."

"She's right, Billy. Ahriman doesn't strike me as a 'search and destroy' type." Trini supported her friend's belief. "If he really is the main evil here, then he must have some grand scheme involved. One we aren't even seeing yet."

"But what?" Billy wondered. "What could he possibly be plotting?"

"In any event, I doubt it's something the three of you will find the answer to tonight," Alpha piped up. "I think you should all get some rest. There are sleeping quarters for you all here in the Power Chamber."

"Really?" Kimberly asked. "With nice soft beds?"

"Absolutely."

"... Oh I just _know_ I'm going to sleep like a baby tonight!" Kimberly squealed at the thought of sleeping in a nice comfortable bed for a night.

"Get used to it, cause this is going to be our home now." Billy smiled grimly, getting both girls' attention. "We can't go back to the Resistance now, if ever. We've probably been assumed to be dead, and it might be better for us to stay that way. If we go back then Ahriman or Nemesis will spot us for sure."  
  
"And more resistance fighters will die because of it." Trini nodded. "Are we really the only ones who have a real chance at stopping monsters like Nemesis?"

"No. There will be four more to help us in our fight, once the remaining Proto Chambers have finished completing themselves," Billy replied. "In the meantime we should train with our new abilities and work to get this place fully operational."

"Yeah well, that's all well and good, but Billy this is has been one longggggggg day." Kimberly yawned, raising her hand over her mouth. "And I know that's an understatement, but we should all go and get some sleep and start in the morning because we aren't any good as we are now."

Billy and Trini agreed, as they too felt tired, Billy the most out of the three of them. They decided to go to the quarters that Alpha had prepared for them. It wasn't unlike the quarters they had in the Resistance. The rooms were the same width and height, the only difference was each one of them had a room to themselves here while back at the resistance they had to share one with four other men or women.

They felt almost like they were being pampered in some ways but they also knew that with great powers came great responsibilities. They had a duty to stop Ahriman and try to restore order back to their world.

As they went to sleep, they could only wonder about their lost friends, and hope for the best.

__Zack, Jason, where ever you are, I can only wish you were enjoying a bed as soft as the one I am in now,__ Kimberly smiled, __God be with you both.__

* * *

For Zack, it felt like he had been walking for hours. His feet felt like they were going to fall off. Finally, he felt his 'rescuers' stop and he too stopped moving. It was then he felt someone take off his blindfold.

What he saw blew his mind.

It was morning, the sun rising in the sky but not far away he could see a large Oriental-style temple. On the ground were poles and from those poles hung flags with various symbols on them. As far he could see, he saw ninjas, male and female, training, going through katas and other maneuvers. 

But to further his shock, he also saw besides the adult ninjas, who wore hoods and masks over their faces, there were younger children, wearing only black _gis_ and being taught not only how to fight... but it also looked like they were being taught a lesson in history.

"This is... this is unreal..." Zack muttered in awe of everything he saw. It was then that he saw someone approaching him. The same female ninja who had been the one to save his life, and with her one of the red ninja's.

"Now you will follow us," the female said as she led Zack forward into the Academy with her companion right beside her.

It wasn't long until he was brought into the temple and walked through the main halls. He couldn't help but feel dread for a moment, as if he would be tested or put through some sort of interrogation.

Finally, they brought him into a single room at the end of the hall. It was there that Zack saw a middle-aged Oriental man wearing a white and grey _gi_ and a black cap over his head. He noticed that the two ninjas were now bowing before him. __Must be the Master Ninja of this place... so now what happens?__

"This is the young man we found with the alien beasts near one of the outer markers, Sensei," the red ninja reported.

"So I can see," the Ninja Master replied, looking into Zack's eyes as Zack felt as if he was trying to see into his soul. "And are you aligned with the ones who have attacked our planet?"

"Absolutely not!" Zack said flat out, irate that another human would actually think he would be on the alien's side. He looked at the man in front of him, wondering what his next move would be.

To his and the two ninja's surprise, he removed Zack's restraints. "Sensei! What are you..." the red ninja snapped.

"This young man is of no danger to us or the academy. If he was with the aliens I would have seen the lie clear in his eyes," Sensei returned. "You, Kai, still act too much like a soldier. Your father's militarist upbringing does help you in some situations. Judgment of character is not one of them." He turned to the female ninja and smiled. "I assume that this young man has you to thank for his life, doesn't he, Cassandra?"

"Hai, Uncle." The female ninja bowed.

"Uncle?" Zack muttered as he saw the female ninja, Cassandra, take off her mask. The face he saw was that of Asian decent, and she was absolutely beautiful. Her hair was tied up by a band that she was now taking off, and Zack could see that it was long, to her waist in fact. It was almost impossible to see a woman with long hair these days. Everyone in the resistance was ordered to have their hair cut short, just so it wouldn't become a hindrance when out on a mission. The red ninja also took off his mask and Zack saw that he was also of Asian origin and had short black hair. The two took their places beside the ninja master. 

"I believe introductions are in order," The Ninja Master surmised. "I am Kanoi Chin, ninth generation Ninja Master. This is my niece Cassandra 'Cassie' Chan and my nephew Kai Chen."

"I'm Zack Taylor and in case I haven't said it already, thanks for saving my life from those Evi-sevs."

"Well then, Zachary, allow me to welcome you to the Wind Ninja Academy," Kanoi replied, "I have a feeling we have much to talk about."

* * *

The first thing Jason Lee Scott did when he came to was immediately go into a defensive position, getting up to his feet and looking around for anyone and anything, expecting himself to be an enemy cell.

He would have never even considered in his wildest dreams that he would be standing on a king size bed, which was in a rather well furnished, luxurious, and plush room. Nor did he expect to find himself out of his gear and dressed in a clean dark red t-shirt and blue jeans. A black leather jacket was lying on a chair, reminding Jason of the jacket he once wore before his life turned to hell.

As he took a look around, he saw a table with food, real food, on it. He knew it was real food and not the rations or makeshift stuff he had eaten for the last few years because on the table were apples, pears, grapes, bread, cheese, orange juice, milk, water.

All of this was just too much for him to take as he plopped back onto the bed. "Dear God in heaven? Am I dreaming all of this, or am I dead and in heaven?"

"Neither. It's reality."

Jason sat up on the bed and looked at the open doorway to see what was the most incredible sight he had seen in a long time. A very stunning woman, dressed in a purple top and black shorts with black pumps. Her hair was purple, curly and down to her shoulders, and her blue eyes showed kindness. Suddenly, he realized something about her. "You! I know you! You came right before I blacked out, thanks to Nemesis..." He trailed off, remembering that monster, remembering what she did to his friends.

The sadness and anger was present on his face, as the girl could see it. "I'm sorry. I wish I could have done more to help..."

"Just who are you?" Jason asked her flat out. "Who are you? Where do you come from? How could you stand up to an ugly creature like Nemesis and..."

"Look so human?" she asked.

"I was going to say look like angel," Jason returned, which brought some color to the girl's cheeks. "But yeah, that too."

"My name is Astronema. I am human, but if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm not from your world," she began. "There's much you don't know. There are many forces in the universe. There are those that want to conquer, and there are those that are trying to do what they can to save lives."

"What do you mean by that?" Jason questioned.

"Follow me outside, Jason and I'll show you," Astronema responded as she walked out of the door. 

Jason stared after her form for a bit before deciding to follow her. As he walked with her, he learned that he was in a rather large and nice house. "Is this yours?" he asked her.

"Not exactly. It's more like a guest home, where we have our guests rest before bringing them out here," Astronema answered.

"And where is here?" Jason asked as they walked out the front door...

And that's when he saw it. "It... can't be..." Jason muttered in absolute shock and disbelief as he saw children, actual children, playing in the streets, laughing and running around enjoying themselves. As he continued to look around, he saw that they were in a city, one that looked like a major city like LA but had open countryside and was like a suburban neighborhood. The air was clean and there was no smog. No sign of pain or fear in the people who he saw on the street. 

"Most of the children you see here are orphans," Astronema told him, "Those that lost their parents in the initial assault and were found on Earth hiding in ruins." A ball rolled over to her and she picked up, giving it back to the children, a pleasant smile on her face. "Don't lose sight of this, okay?"

"Okay, Asty! Thanks!" the child who she gave the ball back to chirped as he went back to play with his friends. All the while Jason just looked at this young woman, and though he knew she couldn't have been from Earth, there was just no way she could be anything like Nemesis. They were totally different.

"Would you like to see more of this city?" she asked him. All Jason could do was nod as Astronema walked him through this city, which years ago wouldn't have seemed strange to him at all. But now with the condition that the world was in, there wasn't a 'normal' city anywhere on Earth.

__This is all too weird.__ Jason shook his head, looking at how normal humans were enjoying life. __It looks just like how Angel Grove or any other city was before the Day of Darkness... but how can this be possible?__ After a while, he turned to face Astronema and asked her, "Just where are we?"

"We are still in your solar system," Astronema said with a slight smirk. "Just not on Earth anymore." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jason asked as they walked into a park. All Astronema did was point upward. Jason looked up and saw three things. The sky, the sun, and... "What the?!"

In place of where the moon should have been, he saw a blue globe in the sky. A blue globe he knew to be his world -- Earth.

"Now look forward," Astronema said.

Jason did so and when he did, he saw a very familiar monument. One that he had only seen in pictures from textbooks. The monument erected by Neal Armstrong of Apollo 11.

 "... We can't... we can't possibly be..." Jason muttered in disbelief.

"We are. This is your moon, which we have been able to terraform quite a bit these last few years," Astronema said. "We've even created a breathable atmosphere and have cloaked ourselves from sight. Unless you're inside the atmosphere, this moon looks like a big hunk of rock."

Jason felt weak in his knees, falling back against a tree, in disbelief that there could actually be trees grown on the moon. __This... this is crazy... just... just what is... how did I...__

 "Jason?" It was a different voice.

__It... it's not possible... it can't be...__ Jason shook his head, his body totally frozen in disbelief. He wanted not to look, but he couldn't, and he turned to face the source. 

The source happened to be a girl his own age with black hair who looked similar to himself. She was someone whom Jason thought was dead... "... Justine?"

"Jason!" Justine screamed as she ran and embraced him. "I thought... I thought you were..."

"I know... I couldn't feel you at all. I thought you were dead, little sister," Jason cried.

"I'm not that little. I was only born a minute after you were." Justine shook her head at her twin brother.

Jason didn't bother with a quip, he just held his twin tightly. For the last three years there had been a hole in his soul, though he had never let anyone know it. He felt incomplete without his twin, without knowing if she was really dead or alive. To him it was worse than knowing that she was dead. He put all of his anger and grief into fighting the enemy, to make him forget about the pain, and it worked, mostly. But there would be nights where he would wake up in a sweat, missing his twin sister, missing the connection that they had and her presence.

And now as if by a miracle, his twin had been restored to him. After a tearful embrace, Jason looked into her eyes, looked at her all over. "You've grown a lot."

"So have you," Justine cried, tears still coming down her face.

"How..." Jason desperately asked. "Just please tell me how all of this is possible?"

"If you are looking for answers maybe I can help," a voice spoke out.

Jason turned around and what he saw would change him forever as he saw a man with long green hair and wearing a blue-black leather duster, black pants and a blue shirt walk over to him. The crimson eyes that looked at him seemed for a moment about to burn right through him, but instead were looking serenely at him.

"Jason Lee Scott, I have been looking for you for quite some time," the young man said to Jason kindly. "Welcome to the city of Galatea."

"How... how do you know who I am?" Jason asked.

"My name is Ahriman," he said, with a kind smile on his face. "And I have come to show you the future."****

**To Be Continued...**


End file.
